One of the last surviving D-Day veterans, who in later life lost his sight and became an ambassador for the charity Blind Veterans UK, has passed away aged 98.

Edward Gaines affectionately known as Eddie to all who knew him, passed away on Friday 21 April at his home in Poole, Dorset. 

Born in 1925, Eddie left school at 16 and took up an engineer’s apprenticeship. A bomb blast destroyed the firm where he was studying, ending his apprenticeship and he joined the Royal Navy in 1943. 

After initially training on Motor Gun Boats at Portland, Eddie transferred to become a petrol stoker on landing craft. He and the other four crew of his Landing Barge Vehicle set off from Poole on June 4 in preparation for the Allied invasion of France. The Landing Barge Vehicle was initially transporting 35 tonnes of TNT and a bulldozer and they landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day.

They continued to work on Omaha Beach, transporting ammunition, equipment and men, for several months and he served in Normandy until Christmas Eve 1944. 

After leaving the Navy when the war ended, he worked in a Mill in Battersea initially, then he helped his parents build their dream bungalow. Afterwards, he became self-employed and worked as a bricklayer until retirement at 60.

Eddie started receiving support from Blind Veterans UK in 2016 after losing his sight much later in life due to age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of sight loss in older people. 

Eddie said about Blind Veterans UK: “I was over the moon that the man at the library gave me the card for Blind Veterans UK and told me to get in touch. I came away from my first visit to their Brighton centre a new man.

“They gave me a special reader that magnifies documents to a huge size. It allowed me to still look after my own correspondence. I also started learning how to use a tablet computer.”

Eddie was so passionate about his support for Blind Veterans UK that he flew the charity’s flag outside his home for the last years of his life. He said: “On a visit to their wonderful centre in Brighton I asked if I could have a Blind Veterans UK flag so I could literally ‘fly the flag’ for the organisation outside my house!” 

Eddie was also hugely thankful after Blind Veterans UK was able to arrange for him and a fellow Dorset D-Day veteran to be presented with the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion D’Honneur in recognition of their part in the liberation of France.

Eddie and fellow blind veteran Peter were presented with the prestigious honour by Capt. Francois Jean, the Honorary French Consul, on behalf of the then French president Emmanuel Macron.

Eddie said at the time: “I am hugely honoured to be presented with this medal. I feel that we both are receiving it on behalf of all of those who didn’t make it back. I was off Omaha Beach on D-Day and 3,000 men died there before noon alone.”

Eddie wanted to do all who could to help the charity who he said saved his life and he became one of its most prominent ambassadors. As well as flying the flag outside his home he volunteered to be featured in fundraising materials as well as specific campaigns for the charity to find more blind veterans like him who could be entitled to their support. He was featured on TV screens, posters, and, for what he was most proud, even on the side of a bus.

Eddie leaves behind four children and 16 grandchildren as well as a legacy of service to his family, his country and the veteran community.