Essex's oldest veteran, 104, attends D-Day service at memorial he helped design
Watch Callum Fairhurst's report.
A Second World War veteran has marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day at a memorial he helped design.
104-year-old Don Sheppard travelled in a police escort to the Living Memorial in the village of Rettendon near Chelmsford in Essex.
Mr Sheppard said he was too old to make the trip to Normandy, but was pleased to see so many turn out closer to home to pay their respects.
"Eighty years ago I was a youth. It was like an adventure. We were going into action and I think most of us, deep inside us, had anxiety over it but we were there to do it," he told ITV News Anglia.
"A great job has been done here and it's nice that it's been made so public so that people can meet and sit and discuss feelings.
"But it wasn't just my idea. There's nothing special about me. But today is a great day because there's hundreds out there - men that have done the job that I've done and it's nice for them to get the publicity."
Mr Sheppard had spent years planning the event, and his daughter said that it had kept him going during tough times.
Joanna O'Brien said: "Today has given my dad the strength to stay alive. He's battled really hard over the last couple of weeks, counting each day. It's what he's wanted to keep him living.
"From this day forward every extra day is a bonus, but this is the day that he wanted to achieve."
The ceremony was attended by hundreds of people, including local school children, who know Mr Sheppard well from his visits to the school.
One pupil said: "Donald is amazing because he lived in the war and he goes to our school every Remembrance Day and he tells us his stories and it's just really cool to hear about all of that."
Another said: "It's great to listen to all of his stories and he tells us about D-Day and how he suffered during the war. It's just an honour to be here tonight with all the veterans and the people that have come here to pay their respects." Steve Parry, of the Basildon community policing team, who escorted Mr Sheppard to the event said: "This is the least we could do for our local D-Day hero, Don and we’re so honoured to have been part of his special day. It was our privilege to spend time with him and his family today.
"The actions and the sacrifice of Don, and those from his generation, should never be forgotten. He is a remarkable man, and his family is rightly extremely proud of him.
"I truly hope this small token of our appreciation for his service shows how proud we at Essex Police are of Don and it was a pleasure to have been part of his day."
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