Worthing D-Day veteran dies at the age of 102

Ted was a resident at Care for Veterans, having moved there from his home in Lancing just over a year ago. He celebrated his 102nd birthday on March 20 and died on Saturday, July 9.

James Bacharew, head of fundraising and marketing, said: “Ted quickly became a treasured member of the Care for Veterans’ family. It’s an honour to have taken care of a veteran with an illustrious career and such a fascinating story to tell.

"Ted crammed a lot into his life and that’s just what he continued to do at Care for Veterans. We feel privileged to have taken care of Ted in his 102nd year.”

Also in the news: Worthing war veteran talks of his life and says ‘we are so much better off’

See also: Honouring the team that developed the Bailey Bridge in the Second World War

Ted's children Pamela, Christine and Ron and his grandchildren Duncan, Geoffrey, Hazel, Jo, and Susie said they will miss him terribly.

He was born on in London and at the age of 15, began training as a Thames Waterman, learning how to tow Thames barges up and down the river. When war broke out, Ted added a year to his age, as many did, to enlist and was immediately sent to Norway as a Sapper waterman in the Royal Engineers.

During April and May 1940, Ted was involved with taking the port of Narvik from the Nazis. When Narvik was captured, Ted returned to the UK and helped build military ports across Scotland. Promoted to Captain, he was placed in charge of 15 Rhino ferries tasked with transporting vehicles to Gold Beach for the D-Day landings in 1944. During the last six months of the war in Europe, together with the Dutch hydraulics engineer Lt Constant Lambrechtsen van Ritthem, Ted advised on the 'opposed crossing of water obstacles', so the longest floating Bailey Bridge of the war could be constructed at Oeffelt and Gennep.

Just two months ago, Ted visited The Netherlands with the Taxi Charity for Liberation Day and afterwards attended a celebration in Gennep in his honour of his contribution to building the bridge.

Speaking at the time, Ted said: "It was wonderful to be here today to celebrate the courage and skill of a very brave Dutchman. It was an honour for me to work with him and it is lovely for the people here today to see and recognise the result of what he did. The bridge between Oeffelt and Gennep was the lifeline of the war as it moved on into Germany. Constant is the man to be admired, I was just his dogsbody.”

Karel van Oosterom, Dutch ambassador to the UK, has paid tribute to Ted and said his contribution to the bridge over the River Meuse between the provinces of Brabant and Limburg would never be forgotten.

He added: "His part in the building of the bridge was one of the major turning points in the liberation of the Netherlands. Major Ted will always remain in our thoughts.”

Demobilised from the army as a Major, Ted returned to civilian life as a college lecturer and taught navigation and watermanship at the City and East London college. In 1978, he was first to be appointed as Queen’s Bargemaster and when he retired from royal service in 1990, he was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order.

In past interviews, Ted said: “I was honoured to be appointed as the Queen’s Bargemaster in 1978. As Bargemaster I was responsible for the Royal Watermen who operated tugs and launches on the River Thames. I held this position until 1990 and met Her Majesty on many occasions. She was always extremely gracious, and we have been very fortunate to have her as our Queen.”

Ted has been supported by the Taxi Charity for military veterans for many years and for the past four, his regular driver has been London cab driver Mike Hughes, who even took him to get his coronavirus injections at Lancing Parish Hall.