Private Bernard Leslie Hammond

Private Bernard Leslie Hammond RAMC served with the 5th Parachute Brigade, 225 Parachute Field Ambulance and took part in the D-Day invasion, dropping into France just before midnight on June 5th, 1944.

He was born in, and was a resident of Brighton, East Sussex and began his army life in 1940, serving with the Royal Engineers in bomb disposal before transferring to the RAMC in 1943.

Following his service with in Europe (which included a spell at the Luftwaffe Hospital, Wismar, Germany) he flew back to England from Luneburg Aerodrome in May 1945. He then went on to serve in the far-east, and was stationed in Semarang in what was then Java, now Indonesia.

Following his army service, he returned to Brighton and his job in the accounts department at the Brighton Hove and Worthing Gas Company and subsequently trained as a teacher - a career he pursued until his retirement in 1981.

He died on 19 March 1996 after a long illness.