A NORMANDY veteran from Farnham has died aged 96 just weeks after he was awarded the Legion d’Honneur in recognition of his efforts in the liberation of France.

James Nicholson, commonly known as Tim, died at Hatch Mill care home in Farnham on Friday, June 30, having lived in the town with his wife Maureen since 1984.

Mr Nicholson was born on November 19, 1920, in Low Fell, Tyne & Wear, the youngest of five siblings. He was educated at St Bee’s School in Cumbria and embarked on a career in the coal mining industry in 1938.

He enlisted in the Army shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War a year later, aged 18, and served with the Durham Light Infantry for the duration of hostilities.

Initially garrisoned in Iceland, Mr Nicholson returned on leave in 1943 to marry his sweetheart Maureen McLaughlin in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and a year later he was posted to Normandy in early June 1944, arriving in northern France six days after D-Day.

Commanding a troop of Bren gun carriers, he was involved in the fierce fighting to the south of Bayeux during June and July 1944, before being seriously wounded when his light armoured vehicle went over a land mine.

He was hospitalised for a year following this, but made a virtually full recovery.

After the war, Mr Nicholson returned home to his wife in Durham and their first son Tim was born in 1948, followed by Phillip in 1951 and daughter Madeleine in 1953.

After a long career in the mining industry, Mr Nicholson and his wife retired to Farnham in 1984 to be near their children, where Mr Nicholson took up a keen interest in gardening and golf - becoming a long-time member of Hankley Common Golf Club.

As previously reported in the Herald, last month he was awarded the rank of Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by the Republique Francaise in recognition of his service in Normandy.

He passed away after a short illness, and is survived by his three children, eight grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. Mr Nicholson’s family have requested his funeral be kept strictly private.

• The Herald would like to apologise to Mr Nicholson’s family for reporting his Legion d’Honneur award in the July 13 edition, without acknowledging his earlier death.