D-Day veteran George Batts dies aged 97

George Batts was an 18-year-old sapper when he landed on Gold Beach in 1944

A D-Day veteran who led a campaign for a memorial near the Normandy beach where he landed in World War Two has died at the age of 97.

George Batts, who lived in Barming, near Maidstone, Kent, was an 18-year-old sapper when he landed in France on Gold Beach in June 1944.

Last October he visited the British Normandy Memorial which honours fallen colleagues for his first and only time.

The British Normandy Memorial charity said Mr Batts's legacy would live on.

His daughter, Linda, said: "I couldn't be prouder of my dad and his achievement in realising the memorial which will keep alive the memory of all the veterans and their fallen comrades."

Defence minister Andrew Murrison said he was "deeply saddened" to learn of Mr Batts' death, adding: "At Remembrance time, we must continue to remember George, the Greatest Generation and all that they did to defend peace and our values."

The British Normandy Memorial said Mr Batts, whose awards included an MBE and France's highest military honour, the Legion d'Honneur, survived the horrors of the beaches and went on to campaign for a defining monument to his comrades.

In a statement, it said: "George touched so many lives with his unwavering dedication to remembrance and efforts to ensure future generations would never forget the ultimate sacrifice his comrades made all those years ago."

D-Day was the start of Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in history, as about 160,000 troops from Britain, the US, Canada, France and other Allied nations landed in Normandy.

It marked the beginning of the liberation of France from the Nazis and paved the way for victory on the Western Front in World War Two.

The British Normandy Memorial in the town of Ver-sur-Mer records the names of 22,442 people who were killed on D-Day and at the Battle of Normandy.

It was unveiled last year on the 77th anniversary of the landings.

The £30m structure sits atop a hillside overlooking Gold Beach - one of three sites where soldiers landed on the morning of 6 June 1944.

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].