Farewell to female veteran of Normandy

The last salute for Frances Todd, Sheffield’s sole female veteran of the Normandy landings, was a moving military send-off at Grenoside Crematorium.

Her coffin, draped in the Union Jack, was carried into the chapel beneath the colours of her veterans’ association standards, past a guard of honour of old servicemen wearing blazers, berets and war medals.

Frances was 84 when she died, and the soldiers she served among are now frail pensioners in their 80s and 90s. But back in 1944 they were strong young men, fighting through screaming bullets and deafening shellfire on the bloody beaches of northern France.

Frances, of Richmond, served with the Army’s Auxiliary Territorial Service, following behind the battalions in their route across Europe. The women’s job was to cook food, serve tea, and keep up morale - but like the men they came under military law, lived in barracks, wore uniform, and obeyed orders.

In 2004, to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Frances reflected on the terrible sights the old soldiers had witnessed.

“Those lads were up to their necks in water, getting shot at from every direction, fighting just to survive,” she said. “I still get upset. I hope people remember what they did, what they sacrificed so people can live now.”

Frances was the only female full member of the Normandy Veterans’ Association Sheffield branch - only those who served in Normandy themselves could become full members.

The association is now a dwindling band. Secretary Maurice Harding, of Dronfield, died earlier this year aged 84. He had been a wireless mechanic in the RAF, stationed aboard a radio communications ship anchored five miles from the Normandy beaches.