'I didn't do anything brave': Last remaining Channel Island Normandy Veteran says he is not a hero

• In his first sit-down interview, Alexandra Spicely speaks to the last Normandy Veteran from the Channel Islands.

The last Normandy Veteran from the Channel Islands, Ernest Thorne laid a wreath in Jersey today to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Ernest Thorne from Jersey arrived on Juno Beach alongside 150,000 allied troops in June 1944, he says: "We were responsible for repairing any vehicles, that broke down and any machinery that broke down and when we landed we went to Caen and that was in a mess.

"The noise of the tanks, and on the front, there were revolving cylinders, attached to chains, so as the chains hit the ground and explode the bombs"

The one-hundred-year-old does not believe he is a hero, he says: "I didn't do anything brave or anything like that."

"Oh me a hero, no no, I didn't do anything spectacular, I just made up a number."

But he thinks the men he served with are, he explains: "Oh yes, every one of them, lovely friends."

"When you are in the front line and you are getting fired at, land mines and everything is going off, some people can't take it, their mind goes, they are people who become ill."

He also remembers those veterans who never came home, he explains: "There was an awful lot who never got off the beaches alive, when I landed on the beaches it was crowded but then it was kind of organised chaos and it was a bit noisy.

"But yes, there was an awful lot who never got off the beach, it was terrible"

He adds: "They should always be remembered, and D-Day, we should never forget it."

"I often think of the people that I knew and I wonder what they are doing now. I hope people remember the good things I did."

"I survived and when I look back, I don't have a total recall. The things I do remember, some good, some bad but I had some lovely friends."

Ernest Thorne met His Majesty the King, Queen Camilla, Prince William and the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a D-Day special service in Portsmouth ahead of the 80th anniversary on Wednesday 5 June, he reflects: "The ceremony was tear-jerking that was, I have never known anything like it in my life."

"There was someone in front of me who had his legs blown off and a lot of children talking about their great-grandfathers, and you think well that could have happened to me but I am very lucky because I survived all of that."

Ernest adds: "I am really lucky because I survived all of that, but in the army, you have friends around you who have the same mind as you, so if you are in trouble you are surrounded by your friends and that was a great help.

He says he shared jokes with His Majesty the King at the special event, he recalls: "We had a good laugh, it was really good. All the people that were involved were wonderful."

The Normandy Veteran says he hopes to be remembered in a good way, he says: "I hope that my family would say well dad was a good fella."

"I've got a wonderful family, I have got a wonderful wife but I don't know how I will be remembered."

A portrait of Jersey's Ernest Thorne was unveiled at a special ceremony in St Helier on Friday 31 May.

Ernest says: "As a young Jersey man, I never thought that one day I would have my portrait painted but I'm honoured."

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