ONE of South Gloucestershire’s last surviving Second World War veterans has passed away, a month after reaching his 101st birthday.
Leonard Trewin, known as Len, was a member of the Parachute Regiment and joined the battle for Normandy in August 1944, fighting his way into Germany, where he met his wife while liberating a labour camp.
Len, who still had a piece of shrapnel lodged above his left eye from a wound suffered during the war, had dementia and had been unwell for some months.
His son Mike confirmed that Len died in late September, just over a month after his 101st birthday.
Len first saw action in August 1944, when he joined the Battle of Normandy in Herouvillette as part of the 8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion, 3rd Parachute Brigade, 6th Airborne Division.
He was the last surviving member of the 8th Battalion, Parachute Regiment who took part in the Normandy and Ardennes campaign, and one of only two still alive from Operation Varsity, a massive airborne invasion of Germany in March 1945.
Len lived with Mike and his wife Michelle in Yate for 25 years, but had recently moved to Stanshawes Care Home as his care needs increased.
Earlier this year he recalled his experiences for the Voice to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
He recalled seeing action “straight away” after arriving in Normandy, “getting the Americans out of trouble” in the Battle of the Bulge, and jumping from a plane over the Rhine with three mortar shells strapped to his legs as part of Operation Varsity.
Three days after the drop he was hit by shrapnel from an exploding 20mm anti-aircraft gun shell, which pierced Len’s skin just below his eyebrow.
After the war he was asked if he wanted the shrapnel removed but he told doctors to leave it there.
Len told the Voice: “It’s not done me any harm – it’s been here long enough!”
Through the final weeks of the war, Len’s battalion fought through Osnabruck, Minden and Lubeck before reaching Wismar on the Baltic by VE Day.
Len met his wife Gerda as his battalion liberated the labour camp near Hamburg where she had been interned for refusing to work for the German war effort.
They moved to Britain and raised a family, living in Hampshire before moving to Yate in 2000 to be nearer Mike and his family. Gerda died in 2010.
Len was made a knight of the French Legion D’Honneur in 2018 and made an honorary citizen of Ahnee in the Ardennes in 2023. Retirement development Trewin Lodge was named in his honour in 2019.
Paying tribute, the Parachute Regimental Association said: “His loyalty, courage, and friendship touched many, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.”
Paul Turner of the Bristol Normandy Veterans Facebook group said: “I will always remember Len with great respect for his exceptional service to his country and also for his incredible smile that always warmed my heart.”
Len’s funeral took place at Westerleigh Crematorium on October 22.