Donald Freeborn

1939-45 Star
Atlantic Star
Italy Star
Defence Medal
1939-1945 War Medal
Arctic Star
Ushakov Medal
The Normandy Campaign Medal
Cadet Forces Medal

Donald Freeborn enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1942 aged 18 and served aboard the battleship HMS Rodney in the ship’s engine room.

His first campaign was the convoys delivering fuel and supplies to Malta. Later service took him to the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and Russian Convoys.

On D-Day the Rodney was engaged in bombardment duties in support of the landing operations off Sword Beach. Don was a few yards away when General Eisenhower came aboard and addressed the crew, and later together with his shipmates went ashore to set foot on the liberated soil of France.

The Rodney bombarded the battery at Benerville and German positions in the region of Caen.

On D-Day+1 they collided with LCT427 but continued supporting Allied land forces in Carpiquet and Caen, going on to destroy the arrow of Saint-Pierre church and to play a large part in the sinking of the Bismark.