// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Normandy veteran Henry Rice dies aged 100
Henry Rice was a signalman who arrived off Juno Beach five days after D-Day
World War Two veteran Henry Rice, who survived a near-miss when a torpedo was fired at the boat he was on, has died at the age of 100.
Rice, from Cranleigh in Surrey, was a signalman aboard HMS Eastway as part of the Normandy landings, arriving at Juno Beach five days after D-Day.
He received the Legion d'honneur from the French government and had called for schools to teach children more about the Normandy landings because the "world is dangerous at the moment".
A spokesperson from the Spirit of Normandy Trust, a charity for veterans, said: "Henry was a great character, with a cheeky smile that endeared him to everyone he met."
Rice previously told the BBC that revisiting Normandy for a remembrance service had meant "everything" to him.
When thinking about veterans who had died, he added: "I find it too easy to wipe a tear away, so I don't let myself think too deeply. But when I'm on my own, then I do."
Troops from the UK, the US, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of northern France on 6 June 1944, known as D-Day.
Rice delivered vehicles, men and equipment to reinforce the effort.
It was the largest military naval, air and land operation ever attempted and marked the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-west Europe.