TRIBUTES have been paid to a D-day veteran who passed away earlier this month.

Frank Nottingham died peacefully at South Park Nursing Home in Acomb on January 11, aged 90, following a life which saw him go from humble beginnings in York to a stretch in the Royal Navy during which he travelled the world.

His daughter, Doreen Harwood, spoke to The Press about her late father’s life.

Born on June 5 1924 and raised in Bishopthorpe, Mr Nottingham had ambitions to serve in the Navy from the moment war broke out in 1939.

But he was unable to join until the age of 18, and so helped the war effort in another way, laying cables for a telecommunications company in the early 1940s.

During this time Mr Nottingham met his future wife Audrey, whom he married in November 1947. Together they had two daughters, Doreen and Lynda.

In 1942 Mr Nottingham was able to sign up, aged 18, to join the Navy as a telegraphist.

“He often said the Navy broadened his horizons,” Mrs Harwood said, speaking of the love of travelling which her father gained from his service.

On D-day, June 6 1944, Mr Nottingham was a Morse Code operator aboard a warship which was bombed during the landings – an attack which he survived, but took the lives of many of his fellow shipmates.

After leaving the Navy, Mr Nottingham returned to York and became a postman, later working in the Leeman Road Post Office.

Reflecting on her father's character Mrs Harwood said: “I would call him a belt and braces man. He liked everything to be right.”

She added: “He gave me my love of gardening. He loved gardening and I think I just love gardening through the fact that he always loved it.”

Mr Nottingham leaves behind his daughters, sons-in-law Jeremy and Roger, grandchildren Ceri, Andrew, Jenny and Sarah, and great grandson Freddie.

His funeral service is at York Crematorium today, January 30, at 2.20pm.