Lt Den Brotheridge was a British Army officer, who according to Stephen Ambrose, was the first Allied soldier to be killed in action on D-Day, 6th June 1944, during Operation Overlord. Stephen Ambrose, at the 2001 premier of Band of Brothers Stephen Edward Ambrose (January 10, 1936 – October 13, 2002) was a popular historian and biographer of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. ... The Battle of Normandy was fought in 1944 between the German forces occupying Western Europe and the invading Allies. ...
Brotheridge commanded a platoon in 'D' Company, Ox and Bucks Light Infanty, 6th Airborne Division, and led a charge across the Bridge now known as Pegasus Bridge. He was killed by a shot to the neck and died in the early hours of 6th June aged 29. Pegasus Bridge before its replacement Pegasus was the name given to a bridge over the Caen canal, near the town of Ouistreham. ...
Several men knocked out a machine-gun position whilst the majority of the platoon, led by Lt. DenBrotheridge, rushed over the bridge to capture the other side, firing from the hip and lobbing grenades as they charged.
Once across to the western side of the bridge, Brotheridge dropped a grenade into another machine-gun position but was shot through the neck in the next instant.
Mortally wounded, Lieutenant DenBrotheridge was the first soldier to die as a result of enemy action on D-Day.
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