A WATCHET man who died on the Normandy beaches will be remembered on Thursday, June 6, at a service at the town’s war memorial to mark the anniversary of Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings.

Arthur Thomas Webber, a 33-year-old Royal Marine naval gunner, was killed in action on August 17, 1944 during the Mulberry harbour operation.

“We we will be commemorating the losses of all the men and service personnel in operation Overlord,” said Watchet memorial archivist Sara Summers, organiser of the commemoration, which starts at 11am.

“But Watchet is personally touched by the loss of one of our own, who died in the later days of Overlord.”

Arthur Webber was born in 1911 in Carhampton, and grew up in Dunster. Later he lived in Watchet and worked at the paper mill. He married a local girl, Dorothy, and they had two children.

He enlisted in the Royal Marines in 1941, trained as a gunner, and was assigned to an armoured landing craft flotilla which protected the assault forces.

For two months, the ship was frequently in action bombarding shore positions in defence of troops on the beaches.

But on August 17 it was hit by a manned human torpedo, exploded and sank. There were 13 survivors but Arthur Webber and 72 other crewmen died in the attack.

He is buried at the La Delivrande war cemetery, in Douvres, France.

All will be welcome at the 30-minute service.