Wiltshire D-Day veteran returns to Hampshire beach he left from

Cecil Newton was one of more than 6,000 troops who left Lepe at the start of a difficult and dangerous journey to the Normandy beaches.

The 100-year-old ex-serviceman was a member of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards.

He went ashore in a Sherman Duplex Drive (DD) tank, an amphibious craft equipped with a propeller that enabled it to travel across water.

Cecil Newton reads out the names of more than 100 comrades killed during the Normandy invasion (Image: Newsquest.)

After surviving the landings he cheated death for a second time later in the war, when he was shot several times by a German soldier. Fragments of the bullets are still lodged in his chest.

Mr Newton visited a Lepe memorial commemorating the role played by the Royal Dragoon Guards in the liberation of Europe.

He read out the names of more than 100 comrades killed during the invasion. He also laid a wreath at the memorial after abandoning his wheelchair and managing a few steps with the aid of his walker.

Mr Newton, of Marlborough, was accompanied by his son Paul.

He said: "My father never talked about D-Day until 1994, when he went back to Normandy, met some of the people he served with, and received a very warm welcome from the French people."

Cecil Newton lays a wreath, helped by his son Paul and his housekeeper, Claire Raggett (Image: Newsquest.)

Cecil Newton has made several visits to Lepe in recent years to remember the friends he lost.

Dubbed the biggest seaborne invasion in history, the landings drove the Germans out of France and heralded the end of the Second World War.

Lepe was one of several embarkation points along the south coast.

Mr Newton and his comrades saw action on Gold Beach. Their objectives were to secure a beachhead, establish contact with the US soldiers at Omaha Beach, and link up with the Canadian forces to the east.

Many of the troops involved in the D-Day landings embarked at Lepe (Image: Newsquest.)

The job of the DD tanks was to clear a way through enemy obstacles and engage Nazi machine gun posts, pillboxes, and artillery batteries.

Recalling his experiences many years later Mr Newton described the deafening noise made by battleships opening fire on the German defences.

He also recalled the moment his tank toppled into a water-filled shell hole and became stuck.

Mr Newton added: "I noticed a group of sailors near the demolished entrance to an underground bunker. They were throwing lumps of concrete at a half-buried German.

"I grabbed the nearest by the arm and told him to stop. He turned around and said: 'They killed my mates'."