heavy German mortar fire. He went on to fight in three further tanks that morning before reorganising the unit and clearing the mined beach. Army dispatches record Cunningham removing mines under heavy fire with his hands. With the mines cleared, he then led his men to the German defences and captured some 90 German soldiers. His quick thinking and selfless actions on D-Day and 7 June, when he supervised the capture of the lock at Ouistreham, allowed the infantry from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles to push inland. His bravery on D-Day and D-Day+1 was recognised with the Military Cross award. He was awarded a bar to his cross later that year at Nijmegen in the Battle of the Scheldt, where he led an assault on German positions, capturing some 200 prisoners. It was there that Cunningham received the shrapnel wounds which he was to carry with him for the rest of his life. He was further awarded a Croix de Guerre by the Belgian government for his part in rescuing civilians in Antwerp following a German V1 attack on the centre of that city. Post-war Cunningham returned home to Ireland from Germany in 1946 and married the impish Mory McIntyre, a well known amateur golfer who had paired with Joe Carr on a number of occasions. Redmond Cunningham was to become a successful architect and businessman who stubbornly remained devoted to his wife, his Roman Catholic faith, racetracks and his children up until his peaceful death on 1 December 1999. He is survived by his son Peter Cunningham, a critically acclaimed author and member of the Aosdána, his daughter Rhoda Cunningham, a photographer, his son Dama Cunningham, a business consultant, and Patricia Cunningham, a stained glass artist and Bray's Gourmand Laureate. His daughter Pigeon, aka Subarata, now deceased, was an ultra-distance runner, clown, and junk-food fan. She was a devoted disciple of Sri Chinmoy. References Further reading Cunningham's wartime papers can be found in the Trinity College Dublin Archive under TCD MS 10718/13 External links Recipients of the Military Cross Irish officers in the British Army Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) 1916 births 1999 deaths British Army personnel of World War II People from Waterford (city) Royal Engineers officers