the secret to the grave with him

He has never revealed what it said - taking

His pigeon was only one to get home with vital message for military

Lieutenant Norman Harry Poole the first British soldier to set foot in France on D-Day, aged 95

The first British soldier to land in occupied France during the D-Day operation has died, aged 95.

SAS paratrooper Lieutenant Norman Poole was one of a six-man team who landed on the Cherbourg peninsula in Normandy on the night of June 5-6, 1944, in an operation codenamed Titanic IV.

The soldier, who leapt from a plane with a carrier pigeon strapped to his chest, landed with 200 dummy parachutists and were tasked with the job of distracting German troops with amplifiers playing fake combat noises.

His pigeon was the only one that got home with a vital message for military chiefs - but he never told anyone what that message was and has now gone to his grave with the secret.

By the end of June 6 over 155,000 Allied troops had established bases along the Normandy coast and paved the way to eventual victory over Hitler's Germany.

Lt Poole and his team were separated from the other troops and they spent six weeks behind enemy lines before being captured by German troops.

The group were eventually liberated by the Americans and Norman was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery.

But Lt Poole, who after the war became a banker for Natwest, was reluctant to talk about his place in the historic invasion, even with his family.

He lived in Portishead, Somerset, with his wife Elisabeth and retired in 1980. Norman died in June - four years after Elisabeth.

The couple had two daughters, Elisabeth and Alison, and four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

He lived in Portishead, Somerset, with his wife Elisabeth (both pictured) and retired in 1980. Norman died in June - four years after Elisabeth

Daughter Alison Dale, a former dental nurse of Studley, Warwickshire, said: 'On the day of the Normandy landings, he had a pigeon strapped to him - and his was the only pigeon that got home with a message for the SAS.

'But right until the day he died, he never told anyone what the message was.'

Ms Dale said her father was head-hunted for the newly-formed SAS from the Parachute Regiment after he enlisted with the Hampshire Regiment at the start of the war.

She said: 'My father was terribly private about all of this, as he had such a grotty time.

'He did open up a little bit more as we got older. But when we were growing up, if we had ever told anyone anything, he couldn't take it. He had to be private.'

Despite receiving many requests to appear on television shows and interviews over the years, Norman never accepted - with the exception of one programme for Canadian TV.

Alison said her father was 'very brave' but added: 'He always said the really brave ones are the ones who died.'

Poole was one of a six-man team who landed on the Cherbourg peninsula in Normandy on the night of June 5-6, 1944, in an operation codenamed Titanic IV. The soldier, who leapt from a plane with a carrier pigeon strapped to his chest, landed with 200 dummy parachutists

His nephew, David Barnes, said: 'I didn't realise he was such a hero.

'I knew that my uncle and my father were involved in the war but they never really spoke about it a great deal. I guess that is typical of their generation sometimes, not to mention what happened.'

Mr Barnes, whose father Hugh was Mr Poole's brother-in-law, said: 'I knew he had the Military Cross but I didn't know what he did to win it.

'I didn't realise he was the first to land on D-Day, I only found out last week after my uncle died.

'I used to go and stay with him when I was a boy, and I remember him as a really joyful man who was full of life. He was always happy and never seemed to have a care in the world. He was always smiling.

'You wouldn't think of him as being a rugged para, because he simply did not speak about what happened.'