D-Day veteran Les Budding, 97, tells of first-wave role

One of Britain's last remaining D-Day veterans has said he puts his survival down to "the luck of the draw".

Les Budding, 97, was 18 years old when he served on board Landing Craft Flak 34, charged with providing covering fire for the first wave of troops who stormed Sword Beach on 6 June 1944.

Mr Budding said: "On this anniversary, I'm thinking about the veterans we've lost over the past few years. "I'm also thinking about all those men we lost that day."

The son of a steam locomotive driver, Mr Budding joined the Royal Marines at 17.

Following intense training in Scotland, he found himself with 85 others boarding a 186ft landing craft in Portsmouth headed for the Normandy coast, 79 years ago.