Captain Trevor Hughes

Born 27 th October 1922 - Died 1 st October 2011

A former Alsop student who died recently aged 88 years. Captain Trevor Hughes was a Royal Marine in World War Two. He survived two sniper shots to the head while fighting a crucial rearguard action after D-Day in 1944.

Captain Trevor Hughes landed on Gold Beach in 1944, where he twice survived sniper shots to the head. Hughes was signals officer of 47 Commando, Royal Marines. At 9.30am on D-day the rising tide swept 47 Commando’s landing craft onto beach obstacles (mines fixed to posts stuck in the sand) and all but two were blown up or breached, which resulted in the Commando losing much of its equipment and all its wireless sets.

In Operation Aubrey, his objective was to capture the harbour of Port-en-Bessin for Pluto, the Allies cross-channel fuel-line. Most important was making contact with the forward observation officer who was responsible for directing the guns of the cruiser Emerald and the destroyer Ursa to destroy German positions defending Port-en-Bessin. While 47 Commando left the ridge to engage in hand to hand combat for the harbour, Hughes and the seven other men left at Point 27 came under fire from further south. Told that no one could be spared to deal with it, he and Winrow were laying side by side shooting at the attackers when Hughes’s helmet was shot off. It hit Winrow in the face and they carried on firing until Hughes was hit on the helmet again, at which point they decided that discretion was the better part of valour and jumped through a hedge.

During the evening the headquarters at Point 72 came under increasingly sniper, machine-gun and mortar fire from several directions and in preparation for Capture Hughes and Winrow now held their fire until the enemy was 40 yards away, when about 15 Germans charged. Hughes shot and killed the leading man; a German called out “Surrender” and he was shot. The Germans had by now advanced to within 10 yards of the trench when smoke bombs were set off; in the confusion Hughes crawled away and rejoined his commando. By midnight the enemy had overrun Point 72, but the gallant resistance of the headquarters unit had prevented the Germans from interfering with the capture by 47 Commando of Port-en-Bessin. In the next few months Hughes was wounded twice more; later in June he received shrapnel wounds to his right arm and when 47 Commando attacked at Sallenelles, Calvados; and in November a bullet hit his left hand during the landings at Walcheren. He was appointed MBE (military) in 1945.

Trevor Lancaster Hughes was born in West Derby and educated at Alsop High School. In the early war years he was a firewatcher during the Liverpool Blitz. He volunteered for the RAF but failed a test. Instead he joined the Royal Marines in 1942. After the war Hughes worked for an insurance company. He later set up an office supplies company. In a long sporting career he was a wicket keeper, and kept goal at soccer and hockey. His usual line of defence was to stop balls with his body, not caring about his broken noses, fingers or a bruised stomach. His other passions were sailing, and revisiting his wartime commando training areas in tents and caravans. After surviving his brush with death Hughes thanked his maker; therefore his Anglican faith was the bedrock of his life.

Trevor Hughes married in 1945, Jean Murdo, who died in 2007. He is survived by three sons, who continue to treasure the helmet their father wore on June 7 th 1944.