Lance Corporal Alfred H J Beard

Lance Corporal Alfred Henry James Beard was the son of Henry and Bertha Beard, of Longhope, Gloucestershire.

He was enlisted into 10th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. The unit was later turned over to airborne forces in November 1942, while he was serving as a Private. 

Pte Beard volunteered to remain in the unit, which had been redesignated as 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion.

A cadre of 244 men from the battalion, including Pte Beard, attended parachute training on course 41, which ran at RAF Ringway in December 1942. The course records note, 'A very good all round man. Excellent during training.'

He was later promoted to Lance Corporal and parachuted into enemy occupied France as part of the spearhead airborne assault that was deployed in advance of the main seaborne landings at Normandy in June 1944.

Lance Corporal Beard died on the first day, on 6 June 1944, aged 28 years old. He is now buried at La Deliverande War Cemetery, Douvres-la-Deliverande, near Caen, Normandy. 

Headstone photograph courtesy of Bob Hilton.