Exclusive:
Mirror journalist Ian Fyfe was the only reporter to die during the D-Day invasion. Now, 80 years later, more has emerged about the hero’s tragic death. thanks to the widow and brother of Para Geoff Fuller
There was only one British reporter who died on D-Day —Mirror journalist Ian Fyfe. Now, 80 years later, more has emerged about the hero’s tragic death.
The widow and brother of Para Geoff Fuller, who survived the glider crash in Normandy which cost Fyfe his life, are still alive.
And Jim Fuller has now uncovered new information about his brother and the last minutes of Fyfe’s life.
It is contained in a letter to the War Office from an Army captain who quizzed Geoff about the crash in 1945. It is believed they were sitting next to each other on the glider.
This week at Geoff’s grave Floss, 98, and Jim, 86, paid their respects and told his incredible story. Jim said: “My brother and the Daily Mirror’s Ian Fyfe were heroes. I was honoured to find out more information about their heroism on D-Day.
“Finding that letter from an Army captain was really quite special.
“From my inquiries it’s almost certain that the Daily Mirror reporter and my brother were sitting next to each other on the glider when it crashed on the night of 5th June 1944.”
The letter, dated 8th March 1945, is marked “Missing Personnel” and was sent to The War Office, Blue Coat School, Wavertree, Liverpool 15 by Captain EJ Wellman. Military chiefs had asked him to speak to Geoff to find information on Sergeant Ockwell of the Glider Regiment No1 wing who was still missing.
He wrote: “Fuller does not know Staff Sergeant Ockwell. I have, however, obtained information. Fuller says on the night of fifth of June 1944, he was in a glider, which was number one of five towed by Albermarles.
“The other occupants were two pilots, names not known, an Army lieutenant and a war correspondent named Fyfe. In landing, the glider crashed into a tree. Fuller was badly injured and rendered unconscious.
“When he came to, he noticed that the war correspondent was pinned by a jeep and died 10 minutes later. He’s positive both the pilots and the lieutenant were dead.
“Fuller crawled into a ditch and at daybreak the enemy machine gunned the glider and later arrived and took the bodies away. Fuller says he saw all this happen from the ditch and he was picked up by our troops later.”
Floss said Geoff, a respected Transport and General Workers Union shop steward who died in 1977, never spoke about that night.
Speaking at her husband’s grave in Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, she said: “I knew he was a Prisoner of War and he was in a glider that crashed, that’s all. He never spoke about what actually happened. I had no idea that he was in a glider with a Daily Mirror war correspondent. I can’t thank Jim enough for all his research.”
The glider, one of the first to land, carried weapons and a jeep. There were two pilots, an officer, three Sappers, Fyfe and Fuller. Jim, 86, from Sawbridgeworth, Herts, has written the story in his book “Chalk 66 Geoffrey H Fuller D-Day 5/6 June 1944” so family will always remember what happened.
He writes how the pilot called to “prepare for a crash landing”.
He added: “Those with experience of training would know the many hazards of travelling in a glider prepared for war, but for Ian Fyfe from the Daily Mirror this was most likely new. When his editor called for a volunteer to join British troops on a top secret mission, he was one of the first to raise his hand, a true hero.
“Military contacts secured his seat on Chalk 66, gaining him a place as one of the first war correspondents to arrive.
“It was not as if Ian had no other responsibilities, he was only 25, married to his wife, Betty, living in Croydon, Surrey. Neither knew if, or when, he would return.”
The D-Day story would have been lost for ever but was saved for history when Jim, who was working in Air Traffic Control at Stansted Airport in 1961, was taken to hospital following a football injury, and doctors thought he would die. His brother Geoff came to visit him on his “deathbed” and talked of his war experiences. Jim survived. But they never discussed the war again.
After he retired Jim, who is wed to Kathleen, 83, with three children and five grandchildren, researched the glider crash.
Recalling how he learned of it, he said: “I was injured playing football for Bishop’s Stortford Swifts, taken to hospital and developed blood poisoning. They thought I would die. I could see nurses crying. My older brother started to tell me about his War. We had never discussed it. He told me he was in a glider on D-Day which crashed with a Daily Mirror war correspondent. That was the first I heard of this. My brother survived the crash despite being shot by a sniper but the reporter died.
“Incredibly I recovered but we never, ever talked about this again.Sadly my brother died in 1977. In 2013 I was reading a book called One Night in June and there was a passing mention of a man called Fuller. I thought I ought to find out more. And here we are today at my brother’s grave.”
Floss said proudly: “It’s wonderful that both Geoff and Ian are being remembered all these years later.”
The huge Allied invasion on June 6 paved the way for the liberation of Europe from Nazi tyranny.
