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.
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 gallantry (Image: Getty)