{"id":132955,"date":"2023-10-30T17:53:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T17:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/?p=132955"},"modified":"2023-10-30T17:53:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T17:53:32","slug":"one-of-britains-last-surviving-ww2-paratroopers-dies-aged-97","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/world-news\/one-of-britains-last-surviving-ww2-paratroopers-dies-aged-97\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Britain&apos;s last surviving WW2 paratroopers dies aged 97"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>One of Britain&#8217;s last surviving World War Two paratroopers dies aged 97 &#8211; as heartbroken family appeal for mourners to attend his funeral<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><b>&#8216;Herbie&#8217; Bray joined the war in 1944 aged 18 and served at the Rhine crossing\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Grandson Jordan Jane said Mr Bray was &#8216;our hero as kids and still is now&#8217;\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A family has appealed for mourners to attend the funeral of one of the last-surviving WW2 paratroopers.<\/p>\n<p>Herbert &#8216;Herbie&#8217; Samuel Bray, from Mullion, Cornwall, died recently aged 97. His grandson, Jordan Jane, 26, described the veteran as a &#8216;remarkable man and soldier&#8217; whose life &#8216;served the country&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Jane, from Truro, Cornwall, said serving and former personnel attending the funeral were invited to wear uniforms and medals.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan said: &#8216;Grandad was our hero as kids and still is now, he was humble, loyal and an all round top man.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He was an inspiration to us always and his stories of the war were incredible to hear.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He looked after us a lot as kids and always took us on trips, we were his world and you could really tell that.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/30\/17\/77183717-12689461-image-m-17_1698685782801.jpg\" height=\"859\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Herbert &#8216;Herbie&#8217; Samuel Bray photographed during his service days as a paratrooper in WW2<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/30\/17\/77183711-12689461-image-a-15_1698685764433.jpg\" height=\"634\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mr Bray (pictured here with his wife, Rita), died recently aged 97 and the community have been invited to attend his funeral\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/30\/17\/77183713-12689461-Mr_Bray_joined_the_war_in_1944_aged_18_serving_at_the_Rhine_cros-m-21_1698686219031.jpg\" height=\"942\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mr Bray joined the war in 1944 aged 18, serving at the Rhine crossing and then in Palestine as a paratrooper. Pictured (from R):\u00a0Herbert Bray, wife Rita, and grandson Ben at Trebah Garden Cornwall&#8217;s military day<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/30\/17\/77184203-12689461-image-a-19_1698686133053.jpg\" height=\"476\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Herbert Samuel Bray (centre) pictured during his time as captain for Mullion FC<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/30\/17\/77184205-12689461-image-a-20_1698686152611.jpg\" height=\"476\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Herbert &#8216;Herbie&#8217; Samuel Bray (second right) photographed with servicemen during his service days as a paratrooper in WW2<\/p>\n<p>Mr Bray joined the war in 1944 aged 18, serving at the Rhine crossing and then in Palestine as a paratrooper.<\/p>\n<p>He later went on to captain Mullion Football Club after returning home from service, and lived lived in Mullion most of his life.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan hoped to cherish Herbert&#8217;s memory after naming his newborn baby &#8216;Herbie&#8217; and hopes the service will bring to light the positive impact his Grandfather had on those around him.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Jane added: &#8216;As one of the last surviving paratroopers to have served in the Second World War, we invite anyone to come to the procession and funeral to pay their respect to a remarkable man.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Anyone who is military or ex-military is invited to wear their uniform and\/or medals in honour of Herbie&#8217;s life served to the country.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The funeral will take place at Mullion Parish Church at 11:00 GMT on 7 November after a procession through the village beginning 10:45.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12689461\/One-Britains-surviving-World-War-Two-paratroopers-dies-aged-97-heartbroken-family-appeal-mourners-attend-funeral.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of Britain&#8217;s last surviving World War Two paratroopers dies aged 97 &#8211; as heartbroken family appeal for mourners to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>One of Britain&amp;apos;s last surviving WW2 paratroopers dies aged 97 - bluemull<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/world-news\/one-of-britains-last-surviving-ww2-paratroopers-dies-aged-97\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One of Britain&amp;apos;s last surviving WW2 paratroopers dies aged 97 - bluemull\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of Britain&#8217;s last surviving World War Two paratroopers dies aged 97 &#8211; 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