Den Brotheridge Lieutenant Herbert Denham Brotheridge was a British Army officer who served with the 2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry ( the 52nd ) during the Second World War and is often considered to be the first Allied soldier to be killed in action on D - Day , 6 June 1944 , during Operation Tonga . Den Brotheridge was born in Smethwick , Staffordshire , the son of Herbert Charles and Lilian Brotheridge . He was educated at Smethwick Technical College and played football for the Aston Villa Colts and cricket for Mitchells and Butlers , Smethwick . He became an inspector of weights and measures with Aylesbury County Council . He married Margaret Plant on 30 August 1940 who was 8 months pregnant when he left for Normandy . His daughter Margaret Brotheridge was born two weeks after he was killed . Brotheridge was commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in July 1942 . Brotheridge first met Major John Howard at Slade Barracks , Oxford and Howard was to recommend him , whilst he was a corporal , to join the OCTU . Later at a conference in Bournemouth he advised Howard , who was seeking to recruit him as a platoon commander , that he would join D Company , following completion of his OCTU training . They both had a similar social background and a keen interest in sports . It was expected that Brotheridge would pursue a career as a professional footballer following the war . They had both served in the ranks and Howard considered him to be a friend . Brotheridge did not initially enjoy an easy relationship with his fellow platoon leaders who all came from a different social background to himself . He was popular with the members of his platoon . Brotheridge was chosen to command 25 Platoon ( also known as first platoon ) in Major John Howard ' s ' D ' Company , 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry , 6th Airlanding Brigade , 6th Airborne Division . The original plan was for Lieutenant David Wood to lead the first platoon across the Caen canal bridge , however shortly before D - Day Howard changed the order of landing and Brotheridge was selected to lead the first platoon across the bridge at Benouville . The coup - de - main gliderborne platoons left RAF Tarrant Rushton , Dorset at 22 . 40hrs on 5 June 1944 on a moonlit night ; crossing the English coast over Worthing , Sussex . Brotheridge ' s platoon ' s glider piloted by Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork landed in Normandy at 00 . 16hrs on 6 June : landing less than 50 feet from the water tower of the Benouville Bridge and Brotheridge led the first charge across the bridge , now known as Pegasus Bridge . He managed to silence the left German MP - post at the western bank of the Caen Canal ; he and his platoon then came under attack by Spandau machine gun fire from the direction of the Gondree Cafe on the far side of the canal . Brotheridge was hit in the back of the neck by the machine gun fire and died of wounds without regaining consciousness in the early hours of 6 June , aged 28 , in a Casualty Collection Post situated in a trench between the Caen Canal - and Orne - bridges , where Captain John Vaughan RAMC took care of him . Lt . Herbert Denham Brotheridge is buried in the War Cemetery in Ranville Churchyard , near Caen , in France . Ranville was the first village in France to be liberated . He received a mention in dispatches for this action . He had been granted an immediate award of the Military Cross by Field Marshal Montgomery the C - in - C of 21st Army Group on 16 June 1944 , however regulations for the award of the MC at that time prevented confirmation of the award by King George VI as the Citation had not been initiated until after Brotheridge ' s death . Note that some purists modify this death to be the first death on D - Day , because another soldier in the attack ( Lance - Corporal Fred Greenhalgh ) died by drowning when thrown out of his glider . Major John Howard ' s D Company 2nd Ox and Bucks ( the 52nd ) was the first Allied unit to land in Normandy on D - Day , 6 June 1944 and Brotheridge was the first soldier from the gliderborne 2nd Ox and Bucks coup de main operation to be killed in action . Brotheridge was the first man to be wounded in action during the Normandy landings and is widely recognised as being the first Allied soldier to be killed in action on D - Day , 6 June 1944 . A memorial plaque to commemorate the events of Den Brotheridge ' s death was unveiled at Smethwick Council House on 2 April 1995 by his daughter , Margaret Brotheridge .