Funeral celebrates life of much-loved D-Day veteran
The funeral of one of the last survivors of the assault on the D-Day beaches in 1944 has been held at Wiltshire crematorium.
Cecil Newton, from the village of Aldbourne and died at the age of 101, was 20 years old on D-Day when he was part of a tank crew sent to attack a German blockhouse. His amphibious Sherman Tank was among the first to land on Gold Beach on 6 June.
Described as "feisty, driven, a little bit mischievous", he was involved in the D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations, and even had a French school named after him.
Major Graeme Green, the regimental secretary for the Royal Dragoon Guards, described Mr Newton as a "great guy" who always had a "little glint in his eye".
He added that Mr Newton was "driven to commemorate his fallen comrades".
At the funeral earlier at North Wiltshire Crematorium, near Royal Wootton Bassett, a message was played from the Cecil Newton Primary School in Normandy.
Mr Newton was a trooper in the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and a loader in an amphibious Sherman Tank crew.
"I was never nervous. I was too young to be nervous. I hadn't got the imagination," he said in a BBC interview about D-day.
Along with his crew, he was in action for just a few moments.
"It was just off the landing craft into the water, an engagement with the blockhouse and then we sank," he said.
More news stories for Wiltshire
Listen to the latest news for Wiltshire
Later in the war, in November 1944, he was severely wounded with a leg injury and was shot three times when his tank came under attack in a German village.
He described himself as "exceptionally lucky to survive" the later attack.
Amongst those he knew who died in the war was Mr Newton's brother Frederic - shot dead by two Germans who raised their hands to surrender, but then opened fire.
In June 2024, Mr Newton travelled back to France to take part in the D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations.
He also visited a French school named after him and some of the places his comrades fell in battle.
Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.
D-Day veteran Cecil Newton dies aged 101
D-Day veteran says friends' sacrifice a 'waste of life'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
5 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Homes in Brockton, Newton that help bring the outside in
LOT SIZE 0.16 acre BEDROOMS 5 BATHS 2 full, 1 half LAST SOLD FOR $157,900 in 1999 PROS Enter this gabled, corner-lot 1925 Colonial with Victorian-style flourishes by way of an elegant foyer with hardwood floors. The spacious living room at right features bay windows and a gas fireplace, and the formal dining room beyond has a coffered ceiling. French doors lead to a heated sunroom with walls of casement windows plus access to the backyard and a garage with wood stove. The updated eat-in kitchen has quartz counters, stainless appliances, and two-toned Shaker cabinets; there's a half bath nearby, and a mudroom exits to the side porch. Up either staircase, four bedrooms (one with access to a walk-up attic room) share a roomy bath. The basement has laundry, a family room, bedroom, and bath. CONS No central air. Advertisement 43 Ash Street in Brockton Handout Sue Hays, Keller Williams, 508-259-5116, Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up $1,575,000 50 GROVE HILL PARK / NEWTON Sunroom of 50 Grove Hill Park in Newton. Handout SQUARE FEET 2,389 LOT SIZE 0.21 acre BEDROOMS 4 BATHS 2 LAST SOLD FOR $1,207,000 in 2016 PROS This 1921 Craftsman with hardwood floors is set on a tranquil cul-de-sac in Newtonville. From the sunroom entryway, French doors open to an inviting living room with stone fireplace, recessed lights and speakers, and built-in shelves. A breakfast bar splits the dining room from the open kitchen with Shaker cabinetry, double sink, stainless appliances, and granite counters. A nearby mudroom with pantry storage leads to a side patio and fenced yard. Past a bath, the primary bedroom connects to a heated sunroom with over a dozen swing-out windows and rich wood wainscoting. On the second floor, three more bedrooms share a newer bath with double vanity. There's a family room and laundry in the walk-out basement. CONS Shared driveway. Advertisement 50 Grove Hill Park in Newton Handout Noreen Boyce, Advisors Living, 617-749-5308, nboyce@
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Miami Herald
Are Pope Leo's ancestors from Cuba? Genealogy researchers in Miami think so
It has become an old joke in the Cuban-American community to note that Cubans seem to be everywhere. And so, when Pope Leo was elected to lead the Catholic Church and traces of his rich heritage began to emerge, including an ancestor who had been born in Havana, a Cuban genealogist in Miami rushed to figure out if this was just an isolated case or, if, by any chance, the first American Pope had Cuban roots. As it happened, the pope has several generations of Cuban ancestors. Robert Francis Prevost, the American cardinal who became Leo XIV after Pope Francis' death in April, was born in Chicago to a father with Italian and French ancestors and a mother with French, Canadian and Black heritage. But there was much more. The Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami tracked several generations of Cuban ancestors on his mother's side, dating back to the 17th Century, who themselves descended from Spanish and Italian families. In total, five generations in the pope's family tree on his mother's side were connected to Cuba, starting with Diego de Arana Isla, a Spanish captain who settled in Havana as an accountant for the Spanish Crown, and Juan Gonzalez Vazquez, a settler who farmed animals on land he owned in Pinar del Río in western Cuba. A century later, one of their descendants, Manuel José Ramos y Bastos, born in Havana in 1755, would travel to the United States and marry María Catalina Guesnon, a woman from New Orleans. He is one of the great-grandfathers of the pope's great-grandmother, Marie Rosa Pantaleón Ramos. The findings were first published by Mirelis Peraza, one of the Genealogy Club's directors, who said she was immediately curious when she learned about Ramón y Bastos' existence from another researcher who had traced the pope's roots in New Orleans. 'I was surprised, I didn't think I'd ever heard that there would be a pope with Cuban roots, and I made a mental note,' Peraza said. Then she found one of the surnames already linked to the pope in sources she was consulting to establish her family's own genealogy. From there, things went fast. Lourdes del Pino, the club's first vice president, picked up where Peraza left off and found Diego de Arana Isla's Spanish ancestors in the 1500s, 15 generations back in the pope's family tree. She also identified the Italian ancestors of Diego's Spanish wife, Ana Tadino, who lived in the Duchy of Milan, now part of Italy, at the time under Spanish rule. Their findings were reflected in the fascinating pope's family tree recently published in The New York Times. The Club, which has collaborated in the past with PBS's show 'Finding Your Roots,' once again partnered with Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for the Times story. The pope's family tree 'is the perfect representation of the Americas,' said Del Pino. 'What fascinates us and we are delighted with is the diversity that the pope's genealogy has shown. An impressive diversity that the vast majority of Hispanics carry.' Del Pino said she had been surprised at how much ancient relatives traveled around the world. 'Spending two months on a ship? I'd go crazy, but for them, it was part of their lives,' she said. 'Once you start researching, you realize people in those times moved around much more than we thought.' Overcoming challenges Researching Cuban genealogy presents particular challenges, given the limited availability of digitized sources and Cuban government restrictions on accessing archives. But Peraza had a stroke of luck when she found out many of the records she was looking for were in one of the few early historical sources still available: a rare book of marriages that took place in the late 1600s and early 1700s at the Iglesia del Espírito Santo (Church of the Holy Spirit), Havana's second Catholic church. 'One of the things we have against us is that many of those books have been damaged over time; they are no longer available,' Peraza said. 'We were lucky that the pope's ancestors we found were all concentrated in the same area, that of the Church of the Holy Spirit, and coincidentally, almost everything fell into the same book, which luckily still survives.' The researchers' good fortune continued. Because Diego de Arana Isla wanted to become a knight of the Order of Santiago, a highly prestigious and selective appointment at the time, he underwent a thorough background check that was documented and is available in digital archives from Spain, making it easier for Del Pino to locate his ancestors. Diego became, in fact, a knight of the Order of Santiago in 1678. 'His service record and list of merits depict 40 years of devout service to the crown with multiple military and administrative posts throughout the colonies,' Peraza wrote. He died in Cuba in 1684. Incidentally, Diego's sister Catalina, whose children were born in Venezuela, would become the great-great-grandmother of Antonio José de Sucre, one of Latin America's independence leaders. The Aranas came from Isla, a small village in Cantabria in northern Spain. Diego's father, Diego de Arana Valladar, was born in 1595 and lived an adventurous life as the captain of a galleon in the Spanish Royal Navy, defending Portuguese settlements in the Caribbean and South America from Dutch corsairs, said Marial Iglesias, a Cuban historian and Harvard University researcher who collaborated on the Times story. (Portugal and Spain were united for about 60 years until 1640.) A final mystery As the surnames of the ancestors began to pop up, Iglesias realized that there is a chance the pope's Cuban ancestors might be connected to one of the most iconic places in Havana: La Plaza de la Revolución, or Revolution Square, where Pope Jean Paul II and Pope Francis had held mass during historic trips to the island. The landmark, topped with a massive obelisk and a statue of José Martí, Cuba's independence hero and most famous writer, was built under Fulgencio Batista's government in the 1950s as the 'Civic Plaza' in an elevation known as the Catalans' Hill. But in the past, that spot had a curious name: Loma de Tadino, or Tadino's Hill. 'I haven't had time to find out why it's called Loma de Tadino, but that's a very rare surname. The family lived in Cuba for generations, and it could have been their property,' Iglesias said. 'Imagine if the pope's Italian branch of the family, who moved to Cuba in the 1600s, gave name to the place where the statue of José Martí stands. How about that?'
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Monee's St. Paul church granted landmark status by county
A Monee church with roots dating back to the 1850s is being acknowledged as an official Will County historical landmark. The Will County Board Wednesday granted landmark status to the 110-year-old St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 5323 W. Margaret St., making it the 61th Will County site to be named a landmark since the program began in 1992. 'This is very exciting for the village of Monee,' said County Board member Judy Ogalla, who represents the area. While the church was dedicated during services conducted in both English and German on June 13, 1915, the congregation can trace its history decades earlier when German immigrants settled in eastern Will County. In 1858, 35 residents founded St. Paul's congregation, according to the church's history. Despite having little money, they built the original church structure in 1860 for about $1,045 and used adjacent land that was donated by one of the first church officers and village founders for a cemetery. The historic designation is extra special to Christina Holston, a member of the Will County Historic Preservation Commission, whose relatives were among the church's founders in the 1850s. 'St. Paul's has been the cornerstone of village life for many years,' Holston said. 'Community life was centered around St. Paul's.' The ground for a new church was broken in 1914. Members of the congregation placed important documents and the history of the church in a copper box embedded in the cornerstone, though only a few of the charter members who organized the congregation in 1858 were living and present at the ceremony, historical documents said. 'After the cornerstone ceremony the ladies of the church spread long tables in the basement and loaded them with fried chicken, boiled ham, potato salad, pickles, pies and all the trimming, serving over 4,000 until long into the evening,' the church's history said. Throughout the years, the church has been home to several organizations and events, Holston said. Both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts met in the basement as did a quilting society and a knitting club that created handmade booties and blankets for new babies. The church has been a host for veterans breakfasts, pork chop dinners and Oktoberfest celebrations, Holston said. St. Paul's Cemetery, which is the resting place for about 100 veterans, including 17 Civil War veterans, is part of Wreaths Across America day, Holston said. St. Paul's Cemetery was named an official Will County historic landmark in 2020, and numerous of Holston's relatives, dating back to her great, great, great-grandfather, are buried there. 'It's been a landmark in the community for its entire life,' Holston said. 'Now it's officially being recognized.' Landmarking protects local heritage, boosts tourism, increases property values and helps the environment by reusing what already exists, according to the Will County Land Use Department. Property owners may qualify for tax credits and state and federal grants. There are four other Will County landmarks located within Monee Township, including the Monee Creamery, the Riegel Farmstead, the St. Paul's Cemetery, and the Henery Furst House. Nominating the site recognizes its importance to local history and its value to the Monee community, county documents said. Will County staff noted the church's exterior and interior are in good physical condition, and it is an example of gothic revival style, which was a popular architectural style for the times. 'It has a lot of meaning to the village,' said Ogalla, of Monee. 'The families have a deep appreciation and love for this building. It's just a focal point of this community that everyone can wrap their arms around.' She said the building and its congregation are welcoming. Holston said they hope to have a celebration for the historical landmark status later this summer or in fall.
