Guard of honour at funeral for D-Day veteran

A funeral has been held for a World War Two veteran who took part in D-Day and helped liberate a concentration camp.

The funeral for Donald "Don" Sheppard, who died aged 104 , was held at St Martin's Church in Basildon, Essex, on Friday.

The coffin was escorted to the service on a gun carriage, with military personnel forming a guard of honour.

Sheppard, from Basildon, was a dispatch rider for the Royal Engineers, and landed on Juno beach on 6 June 1944 in a landing ship tank.

After breaking through Nazi lines in the August, he continued through to Belgium, the Netherlands and eventually Germany - including to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Speaking of his experience, Mr Sheppard said: "I shall never forget that for the rest of my life. How one human could do that to another."

In June he received a police escort to attend a special service marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day at the Living Memorial at Rettendon, near Chelmsford.

His daughter Jacqui Scott said the response since his death had been "very heartening".