'I was always thinking, ‘if I am going to get it, please let it be quick'...I never expected to survive... I feel very lucky'

STANDING stock still, 103-year-old warrior John Duke salutes his brothers in arms who were cut down around him by a hail of bullets on Gold Beach.

- Giles Sheldrick

John is one of the last men left and one of Britain's oldest D-Day veterans.

The highly-decorated Normandy braveheart marked the momentous milestone by paying his own solemn tribute to the 22,442 comrades who gave their lives in the mighty battle for freedom.

John was 23 and serving with the Reconnaissance Corps when he washed ashore amid the scenes of pandemonium and slaughter which have left an indelible and lifelong mark.

Eight decades after their finest hour, John held his own two-minute silence to honour those who perished during the greatest air, sea and land operation in military history.

Head bowed, he said: "I feel very lucky. I was always thinking, 'If I am going to get it, please let it be quick'. I was thinking about it all the time, constantly.

"I never expected to survive it - and I never expected to live so long." John, from Chessington, Surrey, was too frail to travel to Normandy for today's commemorations on the fabled beaches of Northern France.

But honouring those who served and fell was so important to him, he wanted to don his regimental beret, blazer and medals to lead his own eulogy at home.

Operation Overlord was the largest and most complex operation by the Western Allies of the Second World War.

An enormous force was assembled to storm the heavily-fortified Normandy coast - known as the Atlantic Wall - as part of an audacious assault to blast Nazi-held France and Europe.

D-Day, the first stage of the invasion, saw 156,000 soldiers, 7,000 ships and 11,000 aircraft launch a raid on five beaches codenamed Gold, Sword, Juno, Omaha and Utah.