Bill Sparks, the last surviving Cockleshell Hero, has died at the age of 80.

Bill, a Royal Marines Commando, was one of only two men who returned from the near-suicidal attack on Nazi shipping on the River Gironde at Bordeaux in France exactly 60 years ago this month – Operation Frankton.

A dozen commandos were put ashore from the submarine HMS Tuna some ten miles off the French coast, two men to a canoe or ‘cockleshell’. The daring idea was championed by the leader of the operation, Maj Blondie Hasler.

One of the inflatable boats was damaged as it was prepared for launch, leaving ten of the mundane-sounding Boom Patrol Detachment to face the freezing waters, dangerous tides and currents, and the German defence forces.

December was chosen as the long nights gave the men, who were armed with limpet mines, the best chance of avoiding detection – they paddled by night and laid up along the way during the short days.

One of the canoes was carried away from the group by the current, and its two occupants tipped out into the surf. After the war it was discovered that the two were interrogated and shot within hours of capture, part of Hitler’s callous treatment of captured commandos.

A second canoe overturned in the river at around the same time, drowning its occupants.

The fourth canoe made progress up the river, but sank after striking a submerged hazard. Its occupants made their way to Spain, but were betrayed to the Gestapo.

After four days of paddling almost 100 miles upriver, the remaining two canoes reached the German ships and set their mines, flooding four cargo ships and damaging a minesweeper.

The four commandos then had to walk 100 miles to the north to meet up with French Resistance workers in Ruffec. Cpl Laver and Mne Mills were betrayed along the way and picked up by the French police. They were later shot in Paris, along with the commandos who were picked up in Spain, Lt McKinnon and Mne Conway.

But after numerous scrapes and near things, Hasler and Sparks made it to Ruffec – only to find that their contact was not available and the Resistance knew nothing about them.

Once they had been positively identified, they were smuggled through the ‘pipeline’ to Gibraltar, reaching the UK around four months after they set off.

Hasler was awarded the DSO for his bravery, and Sparks the DSM.

Bill Sparks had joined the Royal Marines in 1939 at the age of 17, first serving in the battlecruiser Renown, and retired in 1946, having served in the Mediterranean after Op Frankton.

Among his other careers, he served briefly with the Malaysian police, and was a bus driver and inspector with London Transport.

In June of this year Sparks returned to France with a Royal Marines party to launch the Frankton Trail, an official long-distance footpath or Grande Randonnee which followed the route of Sparks and Hasler from Blaye, on the Gironde to Ruffec.

During the ceremonies in France, Bill Sparks met up with Robert Pasqueraud, who remembered his family sheltering the Royals 60 years ago.