Leonard Neno was born on the 9th of April 1912 to parents John and Eva in Bratton Clovelly, Devon. Leonard had five siblings and when his father died his mother remarried a local soldier and together, they had four children.

Leonard was a farm labourer when he signed up to the army aged 19 in 1932 and joined the Devonshire Regiment. After initial training and service in England he was posted to India with the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment from February 1933 until February 1939.

When war broke out in September 1939, he was immediately posted to the British Expeditionary Force in France. After France fell and evacuations started (the most famous being Dunkirk) he was evacuated from Le Havre in June 1940 as part of Operation Cycle.

In July 1940, he was then sent to Malta to join the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. Malta was under siege by the air forces and navies of Italy and Germany which prevented resupply convoys from reaching the island. Malta was strategically important for the allies as its position allowed strikes to take place on axis forces in North Africa, Sicily and mainland Italy. Dubbed the ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ by Winston Churchill Malta was the most bombed place on earth with more than 3,000 bombing raids over a period of two years. Time on Malta was spent manning anti-aircraft guns, repairing and maintaining airfields, building aircraft pens and preparing for a potential invasion. Strong bonds were formed in Malta with the local population and many of the armed forces married local women. The siege ended in November 1942 after two years and 5 months and after working closely with each other in Malta, a new brigade was formed in April 1943 comprising of the 2nd Devons, 1st Hampshires and 1st Dorsets called 231 Malta Brigade. They adopted the Maltese cross as their badge and would go on to fight together in many areas of combat.

After training in North Africa, Operation Husky (the allied invasion of Sicily) took place in July 1943 involving 180,000 British, American and Canadian troops. 231 Malta Brigade made amphibious landings early in the morning of the 10th of July at Marzamemi in southeast Sicily. The initial beach landings were successful, and opposition was light. Fighting moved further in land and became fierce as more and more German (rather than Italian) units were encountered.

The battle of Regalbulto close to Mount Etna on the 29th / 30th / 31st July was particularly fierce; it was during this battle that Leonard was wounded. 231 Infantry Brigade had sustained almost 600 men killed or wounded, with the 1st Hampshires losing over 300 men, the 1st Dorsets 189, and the 2nd Devons 113. 231 Brigade was chosen to take part in the allied landings on mainland Italy but as Leonard was wounded, he could not take part.

231 Brigade was returned to England and due to their experience in amphibious landings were chosen the spearhead the attack on Gold beach on D-Day. Training for D-Day took place in Scotland before being stationed in an enclosed camp at Beaulieu in the New Forest. During this period of waiting Leonard was promoted to Corporal.

On the 31st of May, the Devons left the camp for Southampton docks to be loaded onto HMS Glenroy. The ship set sail but remained in Southampton water until the 5th of June and time was spent going over plans and observing lectures. On the 4th of June they were informed that D-Day would be on the 5th, however it was then postponed to the 6th due to bad weather. On the 5th of June maps were issued, final briefings took place and HMS Glenroy set sail at 19:00.

4000 ships congregated south east of the Isle of Wight and headed in the direction of Calais before making a turn toward Normandy at around midnight. On the run in they could see in the distance anti-aircraft activity against the paratroops and gliders of the American and British drops.

231 Brigade was to land on Gold Beach close to the town of Asnelles starting at 07:30. There was to be an aerial bombardment on positions along the Normandy coast to ‘soften up’ up the defences in the very early hours and a naval bombardment just before the landings. American landings started at 06:30 with the first British landings at 07:30 due to the timings of the tide.

The 1st Hampshires and 1st Dorsets were the first to land with the 2nd Devons landing at 08:15. The 1st Hampshire and 1st Dorset objectives were to take the small coastal village of Le Hamel and the town of Asnelles behind it. The Hampshires would then move west to take Arromanches which was crucial to establishing the 'Mulberry' harbours. The 1st Dorsets' objectives were to take out a number of heavy gun emplacement covering Gold Beach and Arromanches located in the hills behind Asnelles close to a village named Le Buhot. The Devons’ objectives were to assemble in Asnelles and head south inland along a small river called La Gronde. They were to take the village of Ryes about 2 miles inland which was thought to be the location of a German headquarters. The Devons’ next objective on D-Day was the gun battery of Longue-Sur-Mer 6 miles away which included 4 heavy naval guns aimed out to sea and along the coast.

Unfortunately for most of the troops landing that day the aerial bombardment was not as successful as hoped due to fog and the fact that much of the naval bombardment landed too far in-land. When the Hampshires and Dorsets landed they were met with fierce resistance from the strongpoint at Le Hamel. Machine gun, snipers and ant-tank fire was particularly troublesome. Because of this the engineers that landed at a similar time were unable to destroy many of the sea obstacles which included mined wooden structures. During the Devons’ approach the tide had risen further than expected and many of the mined obstacles were still in place. This meant the Landing Craft Assault (LCA) boats had to slow down to weave in and out of the obstacles which in turn meant they drifted further east than planned. The Devons’ five leading assault companies (A,B,C,D and the Battalion Headquarter company) landed at 08:15 to chaotic scenes with many dead, wounded or taking cover. Only C company landed in the correct spot and immediately joined to support the Hampshires in taking the strongpoint at Le Hamel. The other companies landed close to a machine gun emplacement which was luckily taken out by the Hampshires a short while ago. Asnelles was still in enemy hands, so it was decided to skirt around Asnelles and cut in to the ‘La Gronde’ river and head straight to Ryes. This route was quite perilous as there were many machine gun emplacements located close enough on high ground toward the east. Fortunately, these points were either not manned or had already been taken out by other forces landing on another section of Gold Beach.

An entry in Leonard’s medical records indicate that he was part of A company (the leading assault company) commanded by Major Frank Sadleir. A route was found through the minefield behind the beach and they all left in single file at around 09:55 all while under heavy mortar and sniper fire. After assembling south of Asnelles at around 11:30 they moved further south under heavy shelling and mortar fire along La Gronde toward Ryes. A, B and D companies pushed on towards Ryes and an intense battle took place 1000 yards from the village at around mid-day that involved machine gun and sniper fire. This was overcome and Ryes was taken at 16:25, a counter-attack was repelled shortly after.

His service record includes an entry for D-Day stating that he was ‘missing, known to be wounded, believed to be a POW’. The next entry is ‘Killed in Action’. A letter dated 28th July 1944 was sent to his mother notifying his death. His original burial took place on track cross-roads 1.5 miles inland next to the stream (La Gronde) along with another soldier on the route taken from Asnelles to Ryes. This route was heavily shelled and mortared. After taking Ryes, time was running out and it was decided that the battery at Longue-Sur-Mer would have to wait until the following day.

Four of Leonard's brothers and half-brothers also served in the armed forces during World War 2. Arthur in the Royal Marines, Walter serving in the Army in Normandy, John in the RAF in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Ernest in the RAF in Normandy.