A Second World War hero from Bury who died on D-Day will be honoured with a memorial– and a researcher is looking for help to trace his relatives.

Lance Corporal Fred Greenhalgh was killed in Normandy on June 6, 1944 aged 29 as Allied forces launched its combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France.

Born in Bury in 1914 to parents Sam and Lily, LCpl Greenhalgh was originally enlisted into the Lancashire Fusiliers before transferring to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and finally the Oxford and Bucks Infantry in July 1942.

He had been one of the first troops to go into action on D-Day and was killed after being thrown from one of the gliders that landed on Pegasus Bridge.

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He was killed alongside Lieutenant Den Brotheridge, who was shot while leading his men across the bridge. Both men are now buried in the La Delivrande War Cemetery in Douvre, France.

Bury Times: Veterans Geoff Day and Roy Bailey kneel by the grave of Fred Greenhalgh in 2019Veterans Geoff Day and Roy Bailey kneel by the grave of Fred Greenhalgh in 2019 (Image: Roy Bailey)

Believing that Fred’s sacrifice has been largely overlooked, The Veterans Charity will commemorate him with his own monument next year, on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Ahead of the ceremony, Roy Bailey, a charity fundraiser who also served with the Oxford and Bucks Infantry, is searching for Fred’s relatives to offer them an invitation to the unveiling.

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Roy said: “I want to make sure this great sacrifice was not in vain.

“I want to find out of there are any family and to invite them to the ceremony.”

“It would be wonderful to find them.”

Roy says Fred was born on July 12, 1914 and may have had brothers and sisters.

He knows very little about his family but added that his parents had married in Bury in 1910 and that his mother’s maiden name was Oates.

He and other members of the Oxford and Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry honoured his memory at a ceremony in 2019. 

Roy is looking to contact anyone who has information about Fred to contact him at pegasus52@btinternet.com.