Family and friends gather in Hampshire for decorated war veteran's funeral

• Watch the full report by ITV Meridian's Derek Johnson

Family and friends of a decorated war veteran have gathered for his funeral in Hampshire.

Stanley Taylor from Hartley Witney was a career soldier and D-Day veteran, who had been in the army since he was 14-years-old.

The 97-year-old was among the first wave of soldiers to land on the Normandy beaches in June 1944.

Stanley was with the East Yorkshire Regiment in Normandy and landed on the beach codenamed Sword.

Stanley's Daughter and Granddaughter, Julia Walden and Kathryn McFee said: "He just loved to be dressed in his medals. He loved talking about the war. We used to call him Uncle Albert sometimes because he was always talking about the war. He loved the stories. It's not until you get older and you appreciate what we was telling you and how poignant it was."

As an infantrymen in those first waves of attacks on the D-Day beaches, he would have been exposed to heavy fire from enemy machine guns; something that led to many losses of troops and tanks on that morning.

Stanley would have known there was a good chance of being killed and he faced many other risks in combat throughout the war.

• Stanley Taylor, speaking in 2018

Veterans representing Stanley's former regiment carried him into Aldershot Crematorium before a service honouring the wartime hero, who left the army in the 1950s.

Standard bearers from the Prince of Wales's own Yorkshire regiment and the Hartley Witney Royal British Legion, as well as riders from the legion's Hampshire branch, attended the funeral.

Darren Fleming, Stanley's Great Nephew said: "You can't underestimate what Stanley actually went through. He always played it down. He was so humble and I think it's right that we should honour him so well."

Stanley spoke to ITV Meridian four years ago, after thieves stole a bag containing decades-old photographs of his late wife. 

He said: "Right through the Second World War, right through three years in China, then a year in Korea, and those photographs have been with me all the time. It was my Barbara and I thought the world of that girl."