A MELKSHAM war hero has been given a military send-off last week as military veterans, friends and family gathered for his funeral.
Leonard Billett aged 93 lived in Melksham from the age of 13 and joined the army in 1939 at the outbreak of war when he was just 18. He was one of the last few remaining Normandy veterans from the Wiltshire Regiment and he was given the honour of a military funeral at Semington Crematorium last week.
In respect of his war years Leonard Billett was a member of the Wiltshire Regiment of Royal Engineers with the regiments from Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Worcester which made up the 43rd Wessex Division.. They were branded the “Fighting Yellow Devils” out of respect by its Waffen SS opponents. The 43rd’s distinctive yellow divisional badge of a golden Wyvern – half serpent and half dragon – was to be seen in all the ferocious battles in Normandy, Holland and Germany. The 43rd was the only infantry division to make a single-handed attempt to relieve Arnhem – a gallant but costly failure. From DDay 1944 to the end of the war the 43rd suffered 12,500 casualties and 3,000 killed in action during its battles
At his military funeral his pall bearers consisted of his two grandsons Christopher and Joseph Lee, and soldiers from the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster some being Royal Engineers.
Attendees included the Regimental Sargent Major from Warminster, representatives from the Bath and West Wiltshire Royal Engineers Association, the Wiltshire Regiment and the Royal British Legion. Standard flag bearers were also present.
