A BRAVE D-Day veteran is returning to the beaches of Normandy for what could be the last time, 75 years on from when he was given a ‘baptism of fire’.

Today (Thursday) marks 75 years since Britain launched started to retake control of France, and later Europe, from Nazi control.

Peter Davies from Hereford was 20 in 1945 and lost 11 of his friends the next day. He will revisit their graves in northern France this week, in what could be the last time veterans visit the beaches.

Now 95, Mr Davies trained as a wireless operator in Blackpool and went on to serve with the 1st East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry. The first fighting Peter saw was when he landed on Sword Beach in Normandy on June 6, 1944.

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Mr Davies said: “I was 20 years of age on D-Day. It’s a long time ago and some memories have faded but some of it is still as clear today as it was then. It was a baptism of fire really.

“We knew what was coming, we had done two exercises in the months beforehand. The whole regiment was put on trains and taken to Scotland even though we had been on an exercise off the east coast only a week before.

“It turned out that the coast there faces north which is the same as the French coast and the tides were the same, so it would replicate the tides we would have to cope with.”

Mr Davies returned to the beaches in 2014 and hopes to go again this year to pay his respects to the friends he lost.

He said: “Going back to Normandy always brings back memories and there is one in particular that always surfaces. My regiment was lucky on D Day itself. We only lost one man who drowned going in.

“But on the second day I lost a lot of my friends. Out of 12 of us I was the only one to survive. They are all buried in a little village churchyard in Normandy that I always go back to. I was lucky. It’s one of those things that has stuck in my memory and I always make a point of going to see them.

“This will probably be the last time veterans can make the return journey to Normandy now there are so few of us left. We are not getting any younger and every year the numbers are fewer so I think it is likely that this trip will be the final one.

Although he was a Corporal, Mr Davies said making decisions for friends was hard, as he was responsible for putting them in danger, but each individual’s decision was also dangerous.