Bertram Ramsay Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay KCB , KBE , MVO ( 20 January 1883 – 2 January 1945 ) was a British admiral during World War II . He was an important contributor in the field of amphibious warfare . Early life . He was born in London , into an old family ( see Ramsay Baronets ) , and attended Colchester Royal Grammar School . In 1898 , he joined the Royal Navy . Serving on " HMS Britannia " , he became a midshipman within a year . Following his promotion , he was transferred to HMS " Crescent " . World War I . During World War I he was assigned his first command , the " M 25 " , a small monitor , in August 1915 . For two years his ship was part of the Dover Patrol off the Belgian coast . In October 1917 he took command of another Dover Patrol vessel , the destroyer " HMS Broke " . On 9 May 1918 , his ship took part in the Second Ostend Raid , a follow up to the Zeebrugge Raid , and he was mentioned in despatches . Resigning from the Navy in 1938 , he was coaxed out of retirement by Winston Churchill one year later to help deal with the Axis threat . World War II . Promoted to Vice - Admiral , he was placed in charge of the Dover area of operations on 24 August 1939 . His duties included overseeing the defence against possible destroyer raids , the protection of cross - Channel military traffic and the denial of the passage through the Straits of Dover by submarine s . Operation " Dynamo " . As Vice - Admiral Dover , he was responsible for the Dunkirk evacuation , codenamed Operation " Dynamo " . Working from the underground tunnels beneath Dover Castle , he and his staff worked for nine days straight to rescue troops trapped in France by the German forces . For his success in bringing home 338 , 226 British and allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk , he was asked to personally report on the operation to King George VI and was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath . Defending Dover . After Operation " Dynamo " was completed , he was faced with the enormous problems of defending the waters off Dover from the expected German invasion . For nearly two years , he commanded forces striving to maintain control against the Germans , gaining a second Mention in Despatches . Operation " Torch " . Ramsay was to be appointed the Naval Force Commander for the invasion of Europe on 29 April 1942 , but the invasion was postponed and he was transferred to become deputy Naval commander of the Allied invasion of North Africa . Under the Allied Naval Commander of the Expeditionary Force , Sir Andrew Cunningham , Ramsay planned the landing efforts . He defused a potential conflict between Prime Minister Winston Churchill , and the British Sovereign , King George VI , when Churchill informed the King that he intended to observe the D - Day landings from aboard HMS " Belfast " , a cruiser assigned to bombardment duties for the operation . The King , himself a seasoned sailor and a veteran of the battle of Jutland in the First World War likewise announced that he would accompany his Prime Minister . The two were at civil loggerheads until meeting with Admiral Ramsay who flatly refused to take the responsibility for the safety of either of these two luminaries . Ramsay cited the danger to both the King and the Prime Minister , the risks of the planned operational duties of HMS " Belfast " , and the fact that both the King and Churchill would be needed at home in case the landings went badly and immediate decisions were required . This settled the matter and both Winston Churchill and King George VI remained ashore on D - Day . Operation " Husky " . During the Allied invasion of Sicily ( Operation " Husky " ) in July 1943 , he was Naval Commanding Officer , Eastern Task Force and prepared the amphibious landings . Operation " Neptune " . He was re - instated to the Active List on 26 April 1944 and promoted to the rank of Admiral on 27 April 1944 . Although the men fighting on the beaches of Normandy on D - Day richly deserve the attention given to their efforts , the job of the naval forces was also of vital importance . In 1944 , Ramsay was appointed Naval Commander - in - Chief of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force for the invasion . Death . On 2 January 1945 , he was killed when his plane crash ed on takeoff at Toussus - le - Noble , southwest of Paris . He was " en - route " to a conference with General Bernard Montgomery in Brussels . His body was buried in Saint - Germain - en - Laye New Communal Cemetery . A memorial to all who died in the crash was erected at Toussus - le - Noble in May 1993 ; photographs of the memorial can be seen here . Legacy . A statue of Ramsay was erected in November 2000 at Dover Castle , close to where he had planned the Dunkirk evacuation . His involvement in it and the D - Day landings has led to several appearances as a character in film and television drama - in " The Longest Day " ( 1962 , played by John Robinson ) , " Churchill and the Generals " ( 1979 , played by Noel Johnson ) , " Dunkirk " ( 2004 , played by Richard Bremmer ) and " " ( 2004 , played by Kevin J . Wilson ) . His name was also recently added onto the Colchester Royal Grammar School war memorial , along with other Old Colcestrians who had been omitted . A portrait is also to be put up in the school .