Daughter of D-Day veteran pays tribute to dad

Jacqui Scott said her family was "very proud" of Donald "Don" Sheppard

The daughter of a World War Two veteran who took part in D-Day has paid tribute to her "passionate" dad after he died, aged 104.

Jacqui Scott said the response since the death of her dad, Donald "Don" Sheppard, from Basildon, on Saturday had been "very heartening".

He was among a unit of Royal Engineers who landed on Juno Beach in Normandy, France, on 6 June 1944, as part of one of the most successful military operations in history. He later helped to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

Mrs Scott said he was "very passionate about what they did".

"He was quite a young man when they went over and I don't think any of them really knew the seriousness of it at first, but it soon became obvious as they landed," she told BBC Essex.

"He saw many awful things during that time . . . they never left his head."

Don Sheppard died on Saturday

Mr Sheppard returned to Normandy as often as he could, most recently in 2019, when he was 99 years old.

He was delighted to be able to attend a memorial service in Rettendon to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day earlier this year, his daughter recalled.

'Zest for life'

Mr Sheppard was the chairman of the Normandy Veterans Association in Southend, often taking his fellow members away on coach trips.

"As a family, we are very lucky to have had dad's sense of zest for life," Mrs Scott continued.

"He had that innately from early on, and fortunately his horrific experiences on D-Day and the other campaigns he did before that in Sicily and North Africa didn't dampen his spirits for life.

"I don't think dad had the answer to war; he just took part in it as a conscript and did his bit and then he came back and did his bit all over again in later life with taking care of the veterans who were a little bit less fortunate than himself."

He was one of 156,000 British, American, and Canadian troops launched from the sea and air on to French soil on D-Day.

The Veterans' Foundation is among the organisations that have also paid tribute to Mr Sheppard.

"Thank you for your service, Don. Lest we forget," the charity wrote on its X account.