The Coventry family will visit the soldiers’ grave to mark the anniversary of D-Day

The family of a soldier who died on D-Day will visit his grave in Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion.

David Hughes and Abby Gummery, from Coventry, will attend a service at the Normandy British Memorial in France on June 6 and pay tribute to Cpl Norman Clare.

Cpl Clare, 23, was killed by a mortar shell moments after disembarking from a boat on Sword Beach during the landings of 6 June 1944.

Mr Hughes, nephew of Cpl Clare, said he expected it to be an emotional experience despite never having met his uncle.

“I’m looking forward to going there and paying my respects,” he told BBC Midlands Today.

“I never met him, but I knew my brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. They were all good people, so I should imagine it would have been no different.”

Mrs Gummery, Cpl Clare’s great-granddaughter, said he was her grandmother’s favorite brother and was often mentioned in conversations they had about the family.

“Actually, he looked like my nephew. Same kind of nose and facial features. It’s pretty weird, but it’s nice to see,” she said.

“It would have been nice to have known him and been part of his family, but obviously I wasn’t around.”

Mr Hughes said Cpl Clare went to Normandy to take part in the D-Day landings after losing his mother and one of his brothers at the start of the Second World War.

Both were killed during the Coventry air raid in April 1941 when a shelter was hit by a bomb.

“It was a shame to lose so many of that generation – the same with the First World War. It cost us a generation of young people,” Mr Hughes said.

“All wars are futile, but if we want to fight, you have to respect the people who do it.”

Ms Gummery said it was important to remember the people who died in the conflict, adding: “War continues today and people give up their lives to give us ours.”