A BRAVE World War Two marine has died aged 94.

William Brotherton sailed troops to Gold Beach on D-Day, and brought injured soldiers home.

Mr Brotherton was born May 21, 1925. He joined the Royal Marines at the age of 17 in Lympstone in Devon.

On completion of his training he was sent to Portsmouth to carry out further training on landing craft.

He became a Coxswain and was on board HMS Glenearn which landed troops on Gold Beach on D-Day, 1944 and was then tasked with bringing home injured troops to the Isle of Wight – an operation lasting four days.

His crew of four made their first journey to the beaches at 8am on D-Day morning, ferrying their precious cargo of British soldiers.

When interviewed by the Worcester News in July, Mr Brotherton said: “I can still picture it now. Chaps lain all over the beach, bursts of machine gun fire which came at us from all directions.”

“I was very lucky,”

“Out of our flotilla of 12 landing crafts, only five returned to ship.”

After the second world war ended, Mr Brotherton was involved in returning prisoners of war back to Shanghai after they were detained in Japanese war camps.

Mr Brotherton visited Normandy twice for the D-Day annual celebrations and also took part in the 75th anniversary commemorations on the MV Boudica cruise ship earlier this year. accompanied 98-year-old Harold Wilson of Pershore, a fellow D-Day survivor who fought in the Fife and Forfars Regiment as a young tank driver.

In 2016 Mr Brotherton was awarded France’s highest honour, the Légion d’honneur medal in front of his proud family and friends.

Mr Brotherton's granddaughter Katie Field said: "He was such a wonderful, kind and happy man and you never heard him complain or moan about anything, even when he was poorly. I was lucky enough to visit Normandy with him twice for the D-day celebrations and to visit Gold Beach where he landed the troops."

"It was very overwhelming and I couldn’t believe all the people that stopped us in the streets to thank grandad for his service and to ask for autographs and photos. He told us how he remembers soldiers lain all over the beach and that machine gun fire was coming at them from all directions. He counted himself as one of the lucky ones who survived through it all."

"We are all so incredibly proud of him and will miss him dearly."

Mr Brotherton lived in Offenham and he died in Worcester Royal Hospital following a short illness on October 30 2019.