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Beverley, Henry John

Date of birth:
November 23rd, 1917
Date of death:
March 15th, 1990
Nationality:
Canadian (1931-present, Constitutional Monarchy)

Biography

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Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Corporal
Unit:
6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars), 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, British Army
Awarded on:
August 31st, 1944
Awarded for:
Operation Overlord
Recommendation:
"On 6 June 1944, Corporal Beverley was crew commander of a special assault tank which landed near Graye-sur-Mer. Because his periscope was clouded he was steering the tank from the deck and while doing so was shot through the shoulder. He managed to regain his steering position and under heavy fire safely guided his tank the remaining 300 yards through the beach mine defence.
Although painfully wounded he directed the fire of his tank and succeeded in knocking out a 75-mm infantry gun in a casement, two fortified machine gun posts, and two unfortified machine gun posts. Thus, he was largely instrumental in enabling the infantry to storm successfully the primary objective. On the completion of the beach assault he was given a tank in which the master gun had been disabled. He carried on, however, with his machine guns, supporting the infantry throughout D Day as far as one mile south of Creully. He remained on duty with the squadron until 1100 hours, D + 1 when he was evacuated. By his courageous leadership and determination he was instrumental in getting the infantry onto their objectives and saved them countless casualties."
Military Medal (MM)

Sources

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