Tod Sweeney Colonel Henry John Sweeney MC ( 1 June 1919 – 4 June 2001 ) , known as Tod Sweeney , was a platoon commander in the coup de main operation by gliderborne troops on D Day , 6 June 1944 , tasked to seize two vital bridges before the main assault on the Normandy beaches . The following day he was awarded the Military Cross for rescuing a wounded member of his platoon while under heavy fire near Escoville . Early life and World War II . Sweeney was born in Blyth , Northumberland and educated at Douai School , Berkshire . He entered Douai Abbey as a novice monk . At the outbreak of the Second World War he enlisted in the Royal Army Pay Corps later volunteering to join the infantry . He was commissioned into the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and shortly afterwards transferred to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry joining the 2nd ( Airlanding ) Battalion ( the 52nd ) in 1942 . In 1943 the battalion transferred from the 1st Airborne Division to 6th Airlanding Brigade , 6th Airborne Division . He was a platoon commander in Major John Howard ' s ' D ' Company " coup de main " Operation Deadstick on D Day . The task was to seize Benouville bridge , now known as Pegasus Bridge , over the Caen canal and Ranville bridge , now known as Horsa Bridge , over the River Orne . Sweeney and his No 23 platoon ' s objective was , with two other platoons , to capture the Ranville bridge . On D Day his platoon landed approximately 500 yards from Ranville bridge . On arrival at the bridge he left one section on the west bank and crossed the bridge with the other two sections . He met up with Lieutenant Dennis Fox on the far side of the bridge and found Fox ' s platoon in control of the bridge and surrounding area . By 00 . 26 hours on D Day both bridges had been secured . The operation to capture the bridges was portrayed in the film film ( 1962 ) . Sweeney was awarded the Military Cross for rescuing a wounded corporal of his platoon on 7 June 1944 while under heavy fire near Escoville . Sweeney was wounded in Normandy in July 1944 and evacuated to England . He rejoined the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry ( the 52nd ) in October 1944 . He served in the Ardennes and the Netherlands from December 1944 to February 1945 . He served in Operation Varsity : the air assault landing over the Rhine on 24 March 1945 . He took part in the advance across Germany to the Baltic sea . In October 1945 the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry ( the 52nd ) was posted to Palestine . Post World War II . In 1946 Col . Sweeney was appointed instructor at the Infantry Battle School near Haifa . He served as adjutant of the 1st Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry , 43rd and 52nd in the Suez Canal Zone from 1951 to 1953 . He commanded the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry guard of honour at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953 . The senior warrant officer of the guard of honour was RSM , later Major John Stevenson MBE DCM . He served in Cyprus as a company commander from 1956 to 1959 and was mentioned in dispatches . He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1962 . Sweeney commanded the 1st Green Jackets ( 43rd and 52nd ) at Penang from April 1962 to January 1964 . The regiment was deployed to Brunei in December 1962 following an Indonesia backed uprising . He was mentioned in dispatches . He commanded the 1st Green Jackets ( 43rd and 52nd ) in Borneo during the confrontation with Indonesia and was again mentioned in dispatches . On 1 January 1966 the 1st Green Jackets ( 43rd and 52nd ) became the 1st Battalion , The Royal Green Jackets . He was Defence Advisor to the U . K . Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1966 to 1969 . He then became Head of Public Relations HQ BAOR , Germany . He was Deputy Commandant of the School of Infantry from 1971 to 1974 . Sweeney retired from the Army in 1974 . He was Director General of the Battersea Dogs Home from 1974 to 1988 . He was the subject of a This is Your Life programme presented by Eamonn Andrews in 1985 . Sweeney was Chairman of the 43rd & 52nd Old Comrades Association . In retirement he lived in Warwickshire and later in Shepton Mallet , Somerset . He married Geraldine Follett in 1942 with whom he was to have two sons and three daughters . Colonel Tod Sweeney MC died on 4 June 2001 . A memorial service was later held for Colonel Tod Sweeney at Douai Abbey , Woolhampton , Berkshire .