Pink Floyd's Roger Waters discovers father's WWII fate

Roger Waters has said he may now be able to visit the spot where his father died. Credit: David Jensen/EMPICS Entertainment

Pink Floyd guitarist Roger Waters has said he was "moved to tears" after learning the fate of his father who died fighting in World War II when the future star was five months' old.

Waters only knew that Second Lieutenant Eric Fletcher Waters was killed at the Battle of Anzio in February 1944, but a 93-year-old veteran based in Italy uncovered a wartime intelligence document which gave a detailed account of his father's last hours.

ITV News' Paul Davies reports:

Harry Shindler, a representative of the Italy Star association of British veterans, sought the document from the Public Record Office after getting wind of Waters's search.

Waters told The Times (£):

The intelligence dispatch details how, on 18 February 1944, Waters's Z Company came under attack from 50 German troops who were "successfully dealt with", but who then returned to engage in "stiff fighting".

Then at 11.30 came the news that Waters had been killed. The dispatch ended: "Message received over the air that assistance would now be too late."