ON THE eve of the 60th anniversary of a day that shaped history and turned the tide on the German advance in the Second World War, a Kendal war veteran returned to the shores of France.
John Gray returned to Dunkirk which was the scene of the historic rescue of the British Expeditionary Force in 1940 - to remember those events, and D-Day, which unfolded four years later.
The 86-year-old, who was part of the BEF in 1939, fought through to 1946 via North Africa, Monte Cassino and back to England, to prepare for the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy in June, 1944.
The three-day tour, which was partly funded by the Hero's Return lottery fund, saw Mr Gray and eight other veterans take in Vimy Ridge, the SS massacre site and memorial at Esquelbecq, and the Dunkirk Evacuation beaches.
The veteran, who landed at GOLD beach several days after D-Day, said he was an "old soldier" by the time of the famous landings.
When asked about the atmosphere of the scene that greeted him, he said: "I'd been at war too long to be bothered about atmosphere. I only worried about one thing and that was death."
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