HERO! D-Day veteran visits Normandy despite having skull broken by burglar

HERO! D-Day veteran visits Normandy despite having skull broken by burglar
HERO! D-Day veteran visits Normandy despite having skull broken by burglar

Lieutenant Jim Booth, a special forces command whose top secret operation launched the D-Day assault on Sword Beach, is in Portsmouth today for the national commemorations and will travel to Normandy later this week to further honour the D-Day landings. But last summer it wasn’t clear whether the Royal Navy veteran would be able to attend the 75th anniversary event, as a burglar left him with two depressed skull fractures. The 97-year-old was hit six times in the head with a claw hammer after forcing his way into the property and still suffers excruciating headaches as a result of his injuries.

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Mr Booth was brutally attacked at his Taunton home in November 2017 after his 40-year-old assailant forced himself into the veteran’s home, on the pretence he was a builder.

He was jailed in 2018 for 20 years for attempted murder.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Booth said: “He left me for dead but I suppose I was lucky.

“Surviving the war was pure luck and this was the same again.”

Jim Booth was awarded the Croix de Guerre for outstanding gallantryJim Booth was awarded the Croix de Guerre for outstanding gallantry (Image: Getty)

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