D-Day: Funeral held for Royal Marine veteran Ted Owens

The funeral has been held for one of Wales' last surviving D-day veterans, who died last month, aged 98.

The funeral for Ted Owens was held on Thursday in Pembroke Dock, followed by a crematorium service in Narberth, two days before what would have been his 99th birthday.

The Royal Marines, Royal British Legion and fire service took part in the send-off and led a procession to the church.

It was described as a "fitting tribute to a marvellous, brave man".

Mr Owens, from Pembroke Dock, landed on Sword Beach, Normandy, in the initial wave of World War Two advances on 6 June 1944.

Aged 19 at the time, the Royal Marine commando was hit by shrapnel and badly wounded.

His former neighbour Shobha Edgell, who read a eulogy, said Mr Owens or "Uncle Ted", was like a grandad to her.

"Uncle Ted and my father had a very close bond and what I didn't know as a child was both of them had an incredible war service and they never spoke about that to their families," she said.

"Obviously, it was an unspoken bond between them. They must have seen some terrible things, both of them were very brave men."

"Uncle Ted" opened up to Ms Edgell about his war experience in following years, telling her he wanted his stories to be chronicled so he dictated a whole book to Ms Edgell, which was published in 2018.

Mr Owens was very badly wounded on D-day in Normandy and was stretchered on to a landing craft.

He recovered for two-and-a-half months at a hospital in Caerphilly and, after five days' leave, was sent back to his unit.

He was wounded twice more in battles in the Netherlands before fighting in Dunkirk as part of a relief unit and during the Battle of the Bulge alongside the Americans.

All colour parties, including the Royal Marines, the Royal British Legion, and the fire brigade, led a procession to St John's Church before a humanist service.

The coffin was draped with the Royal Marine Flag and the Last Post was sounded by a Royal Marine Bugler.

Two Pembrokeshire vintage military vehicles and out riders of the Three Amigos Bikers led the way to the crematorium, followed by funeral cortège.

Susan Williams, a volunteer at VC Gallery, where the wake was held, said the place meant "a lot" to Ted, who had his birthday party there last year.

"I got to know Ted through the VC Gallery, he used to come to the gallery and have dinners and stuff here" she said.

"He was probably one of the kindest people you could meet, he will be missed by a lot of us, but we'll never forget him, never."