Den Brotheridge

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Lieutenant Herbert Denham Brotheridge was a British Army officer, and was the first Allied soldier to be killed in action on D-Day, 6 June 1944, during Operation Tonga.

Brotheridge was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire, the son of Herbert Charles and Lilian Brotheridge.

Brotheridge commanded a platoon in Major John Howard's 'D' Company, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 6th Airborne Division, and led a charge across the Bridge now known as Pegasus Bridge. He was killed by a shot to the neck and died in the early hours of 6th June aged 29. He is buried in the War Cemetery in Ranville Churchyard near Caen in France.^[1] Ranville was the first village in France to be liberated.

Note that some purists modify this death to be the first death "by enemy fire" because another soldier in the attack died by drowning when exiting his glider.

[edit] References

1. ^ Casualty Details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved on 2006-07-28.