Final salute to an old soldier

9:40am Tuesday 3rd January 2006

A FAMILY has paid a moving tribute to a war veteran who "simply lived for the military."

Dennis Goodenough, who fought on the Normandy beaches during World War II, died peacefully on New Year's Day, aged 81, after a long battle against pancreatitis.

His daughter Denise Jackson, 57, of Park South, honoured the man she said was a wonderful father and grandfather.

"The army was his life and he lived and breathed it," she said.

"It was everything to him and I think he missed it terribly when he left, although he still kept involved through the veterans' associations."

Mr Goodenough was born in 1924 in Clarendon Cottages which were at the bottom of Kingshill.

He attended school in Rodbourne, where his mother lived most of her life, before joining the Territorial Army at the age of 17.

At the age of 20 he was one of the thousands of soldiers who stormed the Normandy beaches as part of the D-Day landings in June 1944.

Mr Goodenough, who served with the 53rd Anti-Tanks regiment of the Royal Artillery, landed on Sword beach, which is near the French village of Caen.

"He saw a lot of his friends killed and didn't speak much about the experience," said Denise.

"Apart from one or two funny stories he kept it all to himself.

"It made him ill to think about it."

He was awarded a number of medals including the Long and Good Service medal and the Normandy campaign medal.

For many years Mr Goodenough lived on Shaftesbury Avenue, Park South, with his wife Dot, before she passed away.

Shortly afterwards he moved in with Denise.

"He was an absolutely brilliant dad and always loved being with his family and spending time with them," she said.

The family described him as quite a shy man, but someone who really came to life when he spoke about his service days.

One of his biggest interests was photography and he spent hours taking pictures of the Royal British Legion corps of drums, based at St Phillips in Stratton.

Denise said: "He would always come out on parade with us, even when he couldn't get around so easily.

"He loved taking photographs."

His son-in-law Malcolm Harbour, 53, said he could not have asked for a better father-in-law.

"He always enjoyed his days out and we used to go on trips to Weston-super-Mare or Wey-mouth," he said.

"He loved being by the coast."

Mr Goodenough leaves behind three siblings, three daughters, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

No date has yet been set for the funeral service, but it will be held at Whitworth Road cemetery chapel.