Rank Lieutenant Battles/wars Operation Gambit Service/branch Royal Naval Reserve | Commands held HMS X23 Died 16 May 2002 Allegiance United Kingdom | |
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Born 10 October 1918
Bristol, England ( 1918-10-10 ) Awards Distinguished Service Cross Award Distinguished Service Cross | ||
George Butler Honour DSC (10 October 1918 – 16 May 2002), was a British submariner during World War II. He was captain of HMS X23, one of the X-Craft (midget submarines) responsible for guiding landing crafts onto Sword Beach during D-Day.
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Early life
Honour was born on 10 October 1918 in Bristol, England. Honour joined the Royal Navy when war broke out in 1939, serving in small ships in the Mediterranean. He married Naomi Celia Coles, a lieutenant in the Women's Royal Naval Service.
Second World War
Honour was a member of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. During the Second World War, Honour served in Operation Gambit which was part of Operation Neptune (Normandy Landings). During the operation, X20 and X23 acted as lightships to help the D-Day invasion fleet land on the correct beaches (Operation Gambit), as part of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP). Setting out on 2 June, HMS X20 and HMS X23, captained by Honour, arrived in position on 4 June. Due to the delay caused by bad weather, they were ordered to remain in position until 4:30 a.m. on 6 June (D-Day) when they finally surfaced before erecting the navigational aids, an 18-foot telescopic mast with a light shining to seaward, a radio beacon and echo sounder, tapping out a message for the minelayers approaching Sword Beach.