Veteran, 100, honours fallen comrades in Italy

Jack Hearn was born in 1923 and joined the Northumberland fusiliers in 1942

A man who fought in the World War Two Battle of Monte Cassino has attended services there to mark the 80th anniversary of its end.

Jack Hearn, from Cramlington, Northumberland, is 100 years old and is one of just a handful of veterans who fought there still alive.

He travelled back to Italy with his son John Hearn, who joined him there for the first time.

Mr Hearn said he was there to remember "all my friends who did not come back".

Monte Cassino is often called the hardest-fought battle of World War Two

Monte Cassino is often described as the hardest fought battle of World War Two, taking place between 17 January and 18 May 1944.

Mr Hearn was a driver with the Royal Army Service Corps and remembers being asked to drive along roads being targeted by snipers.

The Torch of Commemoration is touring locations across the UK and in Italy before crossing to Normandy for 6 June, the 80th anniversary of D-Day

On Saturday and Sunday, he attended events held in Monte Cassino to remember more than 50,000 allied soldiers who were killed or wounded during the campaign.

The battles involved troops from Britain, America, Canada, France, India, New Zealand and Poland and families from all over the world were at the services to remember loved ones.

It is the first time father and son have visited Monte Cassino together

"It's wonderful that I can come back to Italy and see all the graves and pay homage to the men I served with, because they were the heroes, not me," Mr Hearn said.

His son said it had been "incredibly emotional".

"I am an incredibly proud son and to be able to be at my dad's side at the place where he fought 80 years ago is something I'll remember for the rest of my life," he added.

Follow BBC North East on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].