William Charles Harry Hibberd

William Charles Harry Hibberd 1924-1944 of Southampton, Hampshire, England, my mother's older brother, in memory of Uncle Bill. D Day 70th anniversary 2014.
Born 11 September 1924.
Married 20 October 1943.
D Day landing 6 June 1944.
KIA 13 August 1944 Falaise Gap, Normandy.

Bulldozer driver in the Royal Engineers who arrived in Normandy in the first assault on 'D' day.
Extract from letter to his wife Joyce, dated 4 July 1944, one month after surviving the D Day landing 6 June 1944.
“..Yes dearest it certainly will be lovely to settle down to a happy married life again after all this…Yes dear I did land with the first assault and I got through safe and sound as you can tell…Thank everybody at home for all the luck and give them my very fondest love also tell them to keep smiling…I have changed my address so much that I am not getting my letters regular…I haven’t heard from Mum yet. I expect her letters have been held up somewhere. So I will wait patiently for them to arrive Eh! honey But if you go up there give her my very best love won’t you. Thank you my love. I think I told you before darling I am not sure though. But Mr Churchill and General Smuts see us off from England when we left. Quite a send off Eh! dear…”

Aged just 19, he was killed in action on the 13 August 1944 during the break-out into the Falaise Gap in Normandy. (Letter from Army Captain in first three comments.)
Son of Kate and William, husband of Joyce, brother of Barbara, June and Grace.

The Battle of the Falaise Pocket, fought during the Second World War from 12–21 August 1944, was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy. Taking its name from the pocket around the town of Falaise within which Army Group B, consisting of the German Seventh and Fifth Panzer Armies, became encircled by the advancing Western Allies, the battle is also referred to as the Falaise Gap after the corridor which the Germans sought to maintain to allow their escape. The battle resulted in the destruction of the bulk of Germany's forces west of the River Seine and opened the way to Paris and the German border.
Wikipedia.

At the time of D Day, my father was in Italy, having been at Monte Cassino and previously in North Africa. Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 26 Armoured Brigade Workshop Company, 6th Armoured Division. He met my mother back in England after the war ended.

My mother is the bridesmaid next to her brother Bill in the 1943 wedding photo.