BILL RHYMES, who has died aged 96, went on ‘an adventure’ with his brothers from Marston to the battlefields of the Second World War before returning to work as a city mechanic and bringing up his five daughters by himself.

Mr Rhymes helped liberate the French town of Cherbourg from the Nazis in June 1944 and remained in the country to rebuild it after the war.

In November last year, more than 70 years after his heroics in the aftermath of D-Day he was awarded the Legion d’honneur alongside his 94-year-old brother Stan, 94.

William Rhymes was born on August 20, 1921 in William Street, Marston to parents Lucy and Stephen Rhymes, chauffeur to the Lord and Lady Cowley.

He grew up with his four brothers; Albert, Vic, Stan and Pete and two sisters Lucy and Eda.

He went to St Michael’s Primary School and earned a scholarship to Magdalen College School but his parents could not afford the uniform so he went to East Oxford School.

On leaving school at the age of 14 to work as mechanic for City Motors in Gloucester Green.

In 1939, before war was declared but knowing it was imminent, he joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Fifth Battalion, for what he described as ‘a little adventure.’

Three of his brothers, Albert, Vic and Stan also left the village to fight for their country and all survived the conflict.

As the threat of a German invasion grew, following the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk between May 27 and June 4, 1940, he was posted to Southsea.

Mr Rhymes was attached to the War Office Signal Regiment, consisting of engineers and post office workers.

The unit landed on the Normandy sand just days after D-Day as part of an American-led attack to capture Cherbourg.

He endured five weeks of fierce fighting in the French town before victory was won and spent the next two years in an old fort nearby sending and receiving messages.

After that, he spent another year helping with the clear-up operation, rebuilding roads and communications in northern France.

On returning to Oxford he went straight back to work at City Motors and married Nellie Ayers, who he met at the St Giles' Fair and got engaged to before the war.

They married in the registry office in Oxford in 1948 and had six children together; Sue, Pat, Sally, Jane, Tina and Timmy, who died aged 14 months.

In 1952, after the birth of their second daughter Pat, the family moved to a new council house in Northway, where Mr Rhymes would continue to live until his death earlier this month.

Family life changed dramatically on August, 1, 1968 when his wife, expecting the couple’s second son after Timmy’s death, died during childbirth, leaving him to bring up his five daughters by himself.

For the next decade, with the help of his older children, he worked, washed, cleaned, cooked and looked after the family – all while enjoying working on his allotment.

In 1980 he married Doreen Lawson, and her four children Brian, Pete, Julie and Ian became part of the extended family.

After 15 happy years together she died after a battle with cancer.

Mr Rhymes officially retired from City Motors in 1986 but continued to deliver car parts for the firm whenever he was needed.

Last November the French Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Jean Pierre Jouyet, visited Oxford to present Bill and Stan with the Legion d’honneur.

He died on March 20 and is survived by his brother Stan, his five daughters Sue, Pat, Sally, Jane, and Tina, 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

His funeral will take place at St Andrew’s Church, Headington, at 1pm on April 12, followed by a gathering at the Royal British Legion Club in Marston. Donations to Moorsfield Eye Charity.