Jersey D-Day veteran Harry Fenn dies aged 97

Harry Fenn was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by France in recognition of his service

One of Jersey's last remaining D-Day veterans has died at the age of 97.

Harry Fenn was 19 years old when he served on landing craft on the day of the invasion on 6 June 1944 and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by France in recognition of his service.

He left Jersey in 1940 on one of the last boats before German forces landed in the island.

St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft said: "He was a great character, and I know he's going to be sorely missed."

He said he helped organise trips for Mr Fenn and other veterans to revisit the beaches of Normandy, describing him as "a very modest man".

Harry Fenn's name will be added to a bench, which records the names of D-Day veterans, next to the St Helier Cenotaph

In his own words

In 2009 Mr Fenn spoke to the BBC about his experience on D-Day:

"I was on a landing craft, one of the big ones LSTs. We left Portsmouth in the middle of the night. I realised the boat was moving and we were then told this was not an exercise. We were issued with a first aid kit. I was actually one of the medical staff on board.

"We got there early in the morning and I suppose somewhere between nine and 10. We went up inshore and a large pontoon came out for the troops.

"On the lower deck we had tanks went out first and a lift that came from the top bringing the lorries down with all the troops on them and they were taken onto the pontoon and taken ashore.

"Our lift broke down halfway through, so we then had to go astern out to sea to get out of the way of all the other shipping coming in because there were massive ships coming in. You couldn't see a space, everywhere you looked there was a boat. There was bombing and guns going just a terrific noise. You just didn't have time to think because you had to get these pontoons in and do other jobs.

"When the ship was empty we had to set up an operating theatre in the stern of the ship, which could take 300 stretcher cases. The one I was on was a flotilla leader and he kept his ship for emergencies and we didn't take anyone back that time.

"When we got there we could see all these little black spots on the beach and you knew it was all the poor buggers that had got killed. We stayed there all night. That was a hell of a night. Next morning we went in early back to England and loaded up and came back. We did that quite a few times."

Listen: Hear Mr Fenn describe his D-Day experience in this interview from 2014.

Follow BBC Jersey on Twitter and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].