A war hero who played a key role in attacking powerful German forces during the Second World War has died at the age of 90.
John Duncan Hey was born at Longwood Reservoir on April 19, 1925, where his father was the reservoir keeper.
After leaving school he started work as an apprentice butcher to Mr H Branch, a butcher in Trinity Street. But at the age of 18 he was called up for national service into the Duke of Wellingtons Regiment and took part in the Normandy D-Day Landings in June 1944.
A year later he was wounded in action in France but returned to the army and was stationed in Malta at the end of the war. He was finally demobbed in 1947.
He did return in 1989 with other veterans to meet the French People who his regiment freed from the German occupation.
In a Huddersfield Examiner cutting his part in the successful action by the Dukes at Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands, was revealed by Lieutenant Denis Siddall of Savile Road, Halifax.
The Examiner wrote that when one of “the Dukes’ platoon positions had been overrun by a far greater enemy force, Siddall was ordered by his company commander to try and restore the situation.
“You’ll have to fight like ‘Kilkenny Cats’ he was told.” They did and 47 prisoners were captured together with a quantity of equipment.
After the war Hey returned to his job as a butcher and also worked on the construction of the M62 with his own lorry.
The majority of his working life, however, was spent working for the Post Office.
His son-in-law John Edmondson said: “He was a kind, generous man with a good sense of humour, interesting, with many stories to tell, knowledgeable with an extremely good memory and he had many friends.
“He was a family man and went on many holidays with the whole family.
“He had many interests; horses, mending cars, clock and watches, walking, collecting clocks and walking sticks despite the fact he did not need one.
“He was a very good cook and baker and for over 30 years and made a Saturday roast for the family.”
He was married for 50 years to Amy Knight who predeceased him nine years ago.
He is survived by his two daughters, grand children and great-grandson.
