Hertfordshire D-Day veteran Cyril Banks, 97, dies

A Second World War hero who served on D-Day has died at the age of 97.

Cyril Banks, who enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1943 at the age of just 18, was deployed on HMS Ready to carry out mine-sweeping operations during the D-Day landings.

Mr Banks, who lived in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, died on 6 May.

He had moved into a care home for the last three years of his life.

In 2019, Mr Banks, who was a carpenter, appeared on Good Morning Britain where he spoke of the loneliness of being a widower following the death of his wife Vera.

He described the support he had received from the Not Forgotten Association as well as the programme’s One Million Minutes campaign urging people to pledge time to lonely people at Christmas.

Recalling D-Day, Mr Banks told the Not Forgotten Association: “We saw bodies floating in the water, including an American paratrooper who became caught in the cords of his twisted chute when he came down in the water.

“We found him drowned but later gave him a decent burial at sea. The horrendous things that were happening will live in my mind forever.”

In the Far East he took part in operations against the Japanese and assisted in the repatriation of Australian POWs.

In 2016, Mr Banks set up a Go Fund Me page after he was scammed out of £9,000, which raised £18,000, half of which he gave away to charity.

His funeral will take place in Harlow, Essex, later this month.