Our main D-Day 80 page
Early Life:
Fred was born on the 15th April 1920 in Keighley to Fred and Mary Ann Pickles (née Greenwood) and appears to be their only child. Fred's father was a plasterer by trade and in the 1921 census the family are living at 17 Ash Street, Keighley with his father working for David Antrum Plasterers in Catherine Street, Keighley.
By 1939, aged 19 years old, Fred joined his father as an apprentice plasterer and they are living at 20 Well Street, Keighley. The last civil record of him is when he was about 21 years old when he married Winifred Elsom in 1941, registered at Keighley in the third quarter of the year.
Winifred was born on 25th October 1919 and was aged about 22 when she married. She was employed as a rover in a worsted mill in Keighley.
War Service:
It is not known when Fred joined the army but he was serving as a private in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in 1944, when he took part in the D-Day landings on the 6th June. The following day on the 7th June Fred died and is buried in Rhys British War Cemetery in Bazenville, France. He was just 24 years of age.
His inscription reads "They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old" Rest in peace.
His widow Winifred died aged 82 in 2001, registered in Keighley in November of that year. Her surname was still Pickles, suggesting she did not remarry after Fred died.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Births, 1837-2006
1921 Census of England & Wales
England & Wales 1939 Register
England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005
Commonwealth War Graves Commission