D-Day hero who inspired a Call of Duty character

Sidney Cornell and other members of the Parachute Regiment (the original black and white photograph has been colourised)

Sidney Cornell, who is acclaimed as the first black paratrooper to land in Normandy on D-Day, has been remembered at an exhibition in his home town.

Born in Portsmouth, Sgt Cornell served with the 7th Parachute Battalion, earning a Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his courage in 1944.

He is credited with inspiring the character Lt Arthur Kingsley in the video game series Call of Duty.

Chris Cornell, whose research has helped to raise the profile of his great-uncle, said: "He has become almost famous, which I never would have believed. He was extremely brave and as a family we're very proud of what he did."

The Winchester researcher was encouraged to piece together the story of his mixed-heritage family through a chance meeting with Baroness Floella Benjamin.

The actress and TV presenter inspired him to spend 10 years sifting through military and civilian archives.

Sgt Cornell is credited with inspiring a main character in the Call Of Duty video game series

Sidney's Afro-American father Charles, a Barnum and Bailey circus acrobat, arrived in the UK from the United States in 1889, he discovered.

Charles left the show and met his wife Florence, settling in Portsmouth where Sidney was born in 1913.

As mixed race immigrants in the North End area, the family would have faced a sometimes rough reception, the researcher said.

"Sidney and his brother were taught boxing by their father as a way of sticking up for themselves," Mr Cornell added.

"There was a time when the Cornell family were well respected and were basically as hard as nails and nobody would bully them or mock them."

Sidney worked as a lorry driver for a building supplies company before joining the Army, and eventually the Parachute Regiment.

He was the first black paratrooper to land behind German lines in Normandy on the night of 5/6 June 1944, according to the Royal British Legion.

Sidney Cornell's father arrived in the UK as a performer with the Barnum and Bailey circus

His DCM citation records: "During the next five weeks he was in almost continuous action of a most trying and difficult nature.

“Cornell was a company runner and has repeatedly carried messages through the most heavy and accurate enemy mortar and MG (machine gun) fire.

"Four times wounded in action this soldier has never been evacuated and carries on with his job cheerfully and efficiently.

"Very many acts of gallantry have been performed by members of the battalion but for sustained courage nothing surpasses Cornell’s effort.”

Race appears to have played little part in Sgt Cornell's military career, his great-nephew added.

Respected for his bravery, he was also much older than his battalion comrades and was treated as a "grandfather figure", Chris Cornell said.

Sgt Cornell's grave in Germany records his death at the age of 31

On 7 April 1945, German soldiers detonated explosives on a bridge over the Rhine, killing Sgt Cornell and about 20 members of his platoon.

Chris Cornell recalled: "The time the family learned of his death was exactly the time my dad joined the Army and I don't think that was any coincidence.

"When the war came he became this sort of hero - my dad's hero - and my dad joined the Army because of him."

Although the paratrooper never received his DCM - which is still missing - his service medal was returned to the family in 2021, after reportedly being found in the River Thames by a mudlarker.

In the same year, Call of Duty: Vanguard was released. The makers credited Sgt Cornell with inspiring one of the game's main characters.

Sidney Cornell’s role in D-Day and the battles that followed have been remembered at a pop-up museum at North End Library, near where he grew up.

Along with his grave in Germany, Sidney is also named on the war memorial in the centre of Portsmouth.

His great-nephew said: "It's sad that I never got to know him. My dad would always talk about Sidney. He was in awe of him."