A SOLDIER who died fighting the Germans in a Normandy village soon after the D-Day landings has been honoured by the locals he helped liberate.

Private George Hanks – a farmer from Wendlebury near Bicester who volunteered with the 5th Battalion of the Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry – lost his life during conflict at Estry in August 1944.

He has now become the first of about 450 soldiers to be adopted by the villagers as one of their own, with a wreath-laying ceremony held to honour the brave soldier.

The "heart-warming gesture" was made after Private Hanks' family researched his life.

After getting in touch with the French villagers the family was invited over.

Private Hanks' grandson Paul Harris said: "My mother Rosemary was only a year old when her father fell on August 7, 1944.

"While she knew he was killed some 30 miles south of Caen at Estry, she didn’t know the events leading up to or surrounding the fateful night.

"She passed on my grandfather's wartime letters to me and I spent a year researching George’s movements in Normandy, documenting day-by-day where he was and what he went through.

"The letters asked how his little girl was, whether she was walking or talking. My mother has never been able to read them."

Mr Harris got in touch with a local tourism office, historians and the village mayor.

Mr Harris said: "In a remarkable turn of events it was the first time since 1944 the family of one of the 450 men killed in the battle at Estry had been in touch, and so delighted were the residents that they made the heart-warming gesture to adopt my grandfather as their soldier."

Research found Private Hanks volunteered in 1944 as a member of the 5th Battalion of the Oxon & Bucks Light Infantry before being transferred to the 10th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry at the time of the Normandy landings.

He fought in several WW2 campaigns including Operations Epsom, Greenline and Bluecoat as the Allies fought to establish a foothold in Europe.

He landed at Courselles in France just 11 days after D-Day but was called into action nine days later. He fought in two operations before the fateful night in Estry.

Mr Harris said: "The battle of Estry was some of the most bitter fighting of the campaign.

"The Germans were heavily dug in with machine guns, tanks and mortars. House-to-house fighting saw virtually the whole of the village flattened and scorched.

"On the night of August 6 Hitler himself had ordered what was to be the last counter offensive and my grandfather was hit by mortar fire."

Private Hanks' daughter, her husband Archie Harris, grandson Mr Harris and his wife Simone attended the village ceremony on Friday, April 1, alongside the mayor, former French soldiers and villagers.

This included 84-year-old Albert Prunier who tended to Private Hanks' temporary grave as a 12-year-old boy for two years after he was killed on their farm.

Private Hanks was moved to nearby St Charles de Percy Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery giving his daughter "great comfort and closure" that he is being looked after.

His picture now hangs in the village hall next to a picture of French President, Francois Hollande.