LONDON — D-Day veteran George Chandler, who sought to counter sometimes glamorous depictions of the landings by evoking the horrors he witnessed while escorting American troops to the beaches of northern France as a young artilleryman of the Royal Navy, has died, his family announced. He was 99 years old.

Chandler, who served aboard a British torpedo boat during the Normandy invasion that began June 6, 1944, was among the dwindling cohort of D-Day survivors who gathered last summer to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landing.

As even the youngest veterans approach their 100th birthday, Chandler said he wanted to tell his story to make sure younger people understand the reality of war, not the sanitized version that appears in many veteran books. ‘history.

“Let me assure you that what you are reading in these idiotic books that have been written about D-Day is absolutely rubbish,” he said in June at an event at Southwick House on the coast. southern England, the Allied headquarters during the battle. from Normandy. “It’s a pile of old rubbish. I was there, how can I forget it?’

Chandler’s torpedo boat was part of a flotilla of British ships that escorted U.S. Army soldiers to the beaches of Omaha and Utah during the landings.

He was on board when the sun rose on June 6, revealing an armada of ships “of all shapes and sizes” stretching from horizon to horizon as waves of planes flew overhead. Unfortunately, he said, a navigation error caused the troops he was escorting to land too far west and were mowed down when they reached the beaches, Chandler said.

“It’s a very sad memory because I saw young American Rangers being shot at, massacred – and they were young. I was 19 at the time. These children were younger than me.

“I will never forget the sight of these brave young men fighting and dying as they struggled to leave the beach,” he added.

After spending three months escorting troops across the English Channel, Chandler’s torpedo boat was transferred to the Adriatic, where it struck a mine and sank on April 10, 1945. Nineteen of the 31 crew members were killed.

The family plans to scatter some of his ashes in the Adriatic so he can join his companions buried at sea. Chandler died of pneumonia Oct. 19, his son Paul said.

Chandler, who had a long career with the General Post Office and British Telecommunications, lost his sight later in life.

He had planned to lead Britain’s Blind Veterans contingent at Britain’s annual Remembrance Sunday ceremonies next month in central London, accompanied by his granddaughters, Lucy Tucknott, 31, and Faye West, 28 years. The women plan to march in his place, joining thousands of veterans who will march past the Cenotaph, Britain’s national war memorial.