Leon Gautier, last surviving member of elite French D-Day unit, dies aged 100

Second World War veteran Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of an elite French unit that took part in the 1944 Normandy landings, has died at the age of 100 (Ludovic Marin/Pool/AP)

Second World War veteran Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of an elite French unit that joined US and other Allied forces in the 1944 D-Day invasion to wrest Normandy from Nazi control, has died at the age of 100.

His death was announced by Romain Bail, the mayor of Ouistreham, an English Channel coastal community where the Allies landed on June 6 1944, and where Mr Gautier lived out his last years.