A 90-year-old D-Day veteran from Bath will be back in France this weekend to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings.
Leslie Pring, from Bear Flat, was one of the 156,000 troops who risked their lives when they stormed the beaches of Normandy while under fire from the German army.
Allied heads of states, including the French and American presidents and the Queen, as well as hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world will also be attending the commemoration events this weekend.
"It will be a sad experience as well as a commemoration. Over the years you have got to cope with it and now it has been 70 years since, so it is something you have to deal with in life," said Mr Pring.
"I remember us landing and somebody saying 'You are about to embark on the great crusade. God bless you all'. The next thing you know you are in deep water up to your waist.
"There were banging sounds and you just didn't really comprehend what was going on around you. It was chaos, even though it was an organised attack."
D-Day on June 6 1944, marked the beginning of the Normandy Landings - part of Operation Overlord - which saw the invasion of British and ally forces on German-occupied Western Europe.
The Battle of Normandy proved to be of great significance as it lead to the British and Allied forces pushing the Germans back through Europe, until they reached Berlin and Adolf Hitler's headquarters 11 months later.
Life changed for everybody who was called up to fight in the war effort, and it was no different for Sidmouth-born Mr Pring.
"I was called up and I had no say in that. We were all waiting to be called. We were warned it would happen, and when you were of age a letter came up saying you had to report and that was it," he said.
Mr Pring, who celebrates his 91st birthday at the end of next month, eventually left the army in 1947.
It was shortly after the end of the war, in August 1945, that he married his wife Betty, with whom he lives in the home they bought in 1964.
A letter to his then wife-to-be saved Mr Pring when his armoured vehicle took a hit during the war, and he was bombarded with bits of shrapnel. A piece tore into his chest but a pocket book, containing a letter for Betty, cushioned the impact.
After being flown to hospital in Enfield he recovered and married the girl he had been writing to throughout the war before returning to service in Germany following the end of the war.
After retiring from the army in 1947, Mr Pring worked in Bristol, Brighton and Bournemouth before settling in Bath, where he has been able to enjoy his love for sport. He is a life member at Bath Golf Club and follows Bath City.
