Remembering a Formby War Hero

Formby man survived D-Day and was later parachuted into Germany to fight Tiger tanks

Major Ellis 'Dixie' Dean, who parachuted in to Normandy on D-Day.

D-Day veteran Major Ellis 'Dixie' Dean was one of the men who helped Britain to achieve 'Victory in Europe.'

The Formby man parachuted in to Normandy on D-Day, and returned to the theatre of war to fight deadly Tiger tanks behind enemy lines. Major Dean survived the war, and returned to Formby where he lived out the rest of his life. He died in hospital on Sunday, August 5 2012 , aged 90. To help mark the 70th anniversary of VE Day, the Visiter has taken a look back at an interview Major Dean gave in 2008.

Major Ellis 'Dixie' Dean, (far right) who parachuted in to Normandy on D-Day, on a visit to a war cemetery in France

Major Dean joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, aged 18. Promoted to Sergeant, in 1942 he joined The Parachute Regiment, becoming 2nd Lieutenant in the 13th Lancashire Battalion, and quickly became aware they were preparing for the invasion of Europe. By April of 1944, he knew “we would be first in.” On May 25, he moved to Keevil near Bath, for briefing. The battalion was to land in France and set up machine gun positions to defend a bank of anti-tank guns. German tanks would be a serious threat to the British Army once it broke out of the beach heads and started to advance.

On June 5, the men sat down to their final meal. He said: “We went to war on two slices of bully beef, mashed potato, lettuce, boiled rice and sultanas.” At 23.48, they took off for France in a Stirling aircraft named Hellzapoppin, after the 1941 musical. The “stick” of Paratroopers is trained to check the man in front, and then give the all clear. German flak was a threat, but they were faced with a more practical problem near the drop zone. A cover jammed, so Ellis had to be unhooked to open the door. “I pulled the cover open, and saw land.” “At 0.40 they jumped.” Ellis’s first sensation was one of relief: “The night air was so cool after the horrible heat of the plane. I saw two silver ribbons, and realised they were the river Orn and Caen canal.” Ellis landed in a tree. “When I opened my eyes all I could see was foliage. After releasing my straps, I realised I was only six inches from the ground.”

Major Ellis 'Dixie' Dean MBEMCTD

The “stick” was missing 11 men, which contained two machine guns and several tins of ammunition, lost in dark French fields. The objective was to capture Pegasus bridge over the Caen canal, and hold it until seaborne troops arrived. By 03.30 the men started digging in and made contact with the enemy. “They opened fire on us, then retreated.” As dawn broke, Ellis – on the edge of a cornfield, unable to spot any advancing Germans – was refused permission to move but went searching for the lost ammunition!

Around this time the allied invasion of Sword Beach began. “It went from silence to bedlam in seconds.” Ellis spotted drums of Vickers ammunition, grabbed them and headed back to his men. The firepower from the anti-tank guns and Vickers was too much for the German armour. Ellis said: “We gave them such a bloody nose.” This was the end of his D-Day combat. although Ellis would later return to Europe to fight Tiger tanks in Belgium.

In March 1945 his unit was dropped over the Rhine into Germany, when the paratroopers fought their way across Germany to the Baltic coast, where they eventually met the Russians. He later received a Military Cross for a “fight with a Tiger tank” and an MBE for services to The Parachute Regiment. In 2004 he returned to Normandy for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, when he met Prince Charles.

Major Dean's memorial service took place this morning at St Peter’s Church in Formby. The eulogy, delivered by Major Dean’s son Bob, paid tribute to the war hero. Th eulogy read: “It was a great honour for us to have a father with a military cross and an MBE from his military service, but it was something that he rarely discussed. Dad was never one to extol his own virtues. In 1941 he was posted to the village of Fulbeck in Lincolnshire where he met a pretty young school girl , Jean Farmer, and dazzled her with his charm and tennis prowess. Bill later returned to Formby with his bride, my mum. They enjoyed over 60 years of happy marriage together. Dad was an excellent father. I remember tractor and trailer rides across the moss to the old Cheshire lines where we were cowboys and Indians. We cooked sausages on a campfire and played hide and seek.

Dad will always be remembered not only as a war hero for King and Country but also as a wonderful father to us and a loving husband to our mum.”

This story and photos from: Southport Visiter