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Two proud old soldiers received a special salute from servicemen and cadets in Pembrokeshire on Remembrance Sunday.
D-Day veteran Gordon Prime and former Royal Welch Fusilier, Lieutenant Colonel Doug Joyce are both residents at Pembroke Haven in Pembroke Dock.
After the home’s own service of remembrance, where 97-year-old Mr Prime laid a wreath, he and Lt Col Joyce went outside to meet members of the Pembroke Dock Army Cadets, together with a quartet of soldiers who are currently at Castlemartin camp.
Amongst the youngsters was Mr Prime’s 13-year-old grandson, George Prime.
“It was great to see them, and I was pleased to be able to tell them I am still soldiering on,” said the former motorcycle dispatch rider, who was just 20 when he took part in the D-Day landings.
“The cadets and soldiers lined up in the car park to salute us, and we had a lovely chat, when I congratulated them on their smart turn-out.”
Mr Prime, formerly of Jameston, told the cadets that never a day goes past without him remembering his Royal Army Service Corps friends who lost their lives in the Second World War.
Notable amongst them was his best pal and fellow dispatch rider, Bert Stinchcombe.
Ten days before the end of the war, the pair tossed a coin to choose who would take which route in Normandy, and Bert sadly never returned.
“It’s hard to explain the camaraderie we shared,” he said. “We worked together, ate together, slept together and some of us died together.
“But I was determined to get through it and somehow I managed.”
Former Pembrokeshire Normandy Veterans’ Association president Mr Prime and Lt Col Joyce, who was president of the Milford Haven branch of the Royal British Legion, later joined fellow residents at Pembroke Haven in raising a suppertime glass to absent friends.
“It was very touching,” said Sue Mason, one of the home’s directors.
