Hero soldier, 100, sobs as he returns to D-Day beaches for first time in 82 years

Warrior Paul Terry chokes back tears returning to the D-Day beaches for the first time in 82 years, saying: "Please, never forget our sacrifice." The veteran, 100, wanted to be in Normandy for Saturday's anniversary knowing it might be his last chance to lay ghosts to rest.

Hero Paul, a twin and one of three brothers who served with the King's Royal Rifle Corps, landed on Sword Beach and helped in the bloody battle to liberate France. Standing on the same sand that stained red with the blood of fallen soldiers in 1944, he said: "It was hell on earth, we were all scared stiff, and at the age I was I just wanted to go home.

"There was so much noise, so much shelling, it is hard to explain. It frightened the life out me. Even the sight of German soldiers in uniform the put fear of god into me. I don't think about it much, but I know I was one of the lucky ones, and we must never forget."

Paul, from Pevensey Bay near Eastbourne, East Sussex, turns 101 next month and is part of a generation who did not flinch as they raced into the unknown. He valiantly fought through France, Belgium and into Holland where he was part of Operation Market Garden, the plan to flank Germany's formidable western border defences by breaking through the enemy line in Arnhem.

Fighting back tears as he stood on the sunbaked shore, Paul tossed a poppy wreath into the water in a solo act of solemn remembrance. He returned to Normandy this week with eight other D-Day and Second World War veterans with the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans.

Each knows their journey across the Channel might be a valedictory salute, a final but no less important chance to remember those who died in the fight to liberate Europe. Born in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1925 when Stanley Baldwin was prime minister, Paul and his brothers all survived the war. Victor, who served alongside him in the 12th battalion and was four years older, died in 1999 aged 78.

His twin Peter served in the 2nd battalion, famous for its service in the North African campaign, particularly at the Battle of El Alamein. He died in 2019 aged 94. But the service of surviving veterans, and the sacrifice of tens of thousands of men who perished in the fight for freedom, has left its mark.

As he threw the floral tribute into the sea, and with his twin's medals proudly pinned to his chest, Paul said: "I pray of a night. I just hope and pray the youth of today never have to go through it again. It's frightening. I think if there is another war none of us will know much about it. God gave us life to love one another, not kill one another. So many god men were killed here. This is my first time back in 82 years and I just ask, please, never forget what we did."

Almost without exception the hardy band of brothers and sisters who have made the pilgrimage to France would have still been in school at the outbreak of war in 1939. By 1944 they would have turned 18 and been called up to form the military might for the D-Day invasion. Many volunteered, often lying about their age, others went willingly, and some because they had no option.

Allied soldiers launched an air assault on occupied France just after midnight on June 6 and, hours later, from the sea when troops stormed five beaches codenamed Gold, Sword, Juno, Utah, and Omaha. The largest air and seaborne invasion ever mounted hoped to establish a foothold on the Normandy beaches and from there a springboard from which to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe.

As the first wave of troops scrambled off landing craft and raced up heavily fortified beaches all that could be heard was the incessant sound of machine gun and mortar fire punctuated by piercing screams as soldiers were mown down from German positions on the cliffs above.

Normandy has become a sacred place for returning warriors who weep when they recall how young friends and comrades died, often by their sides.

Stan Hollis, company sergeant major with D Company, 6th Battalion Green Howards, was one of the first to step foot on Gold Beach and was awarded the only Victoria Cross on D-Day for his actions. The youngest to die was 16 while the oldest was 64. The names of the 22,540 heroes who served under British Command and perished that day and during the three-month Battle of Normandy that followed are immortalised on limestone columns at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer.

On Saturday it will host a moving remembrance service where veterans will be told their service and sacrifice on D-Day can never be repaid but will never be forgotten. Great great grandfather Paul was conscripted when he was 18. He was decorated with the Legion of Honour, the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, for his service.

He was nearly killed when he was blown up by a German shell while holed up in a trench in Nazi-occupied Holland, suffering catastrophic leg injuries. He was evacuated back to the UK and medically discharged from the Army, but was so determined to serve his country he later rejoined as a reservist and was on duty at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

After the war he continued helping others working as an ambulance driver for 35 years.