100-year-old veteran returns to WW2 battlefield

Jack Hearn served in Africa and Italy

A man who fought in the World War Two Battle of Monte Cassino is returning to Italy for events to mark its 80th anniversary.

Jack Hearn, from Northumberland, is 100 years old and is one of just a handful of veterans well enough to travel.

Despite the deaths of thousands of soldiers in the campaign, they were sometimes called D-Day dodgers because they were not involved in the Normandy landings a month later in June 1944.

But Mr Hearn said: "We were told where to fight and had no choice".

Jack Hearn enlisted in 1942 when he was just 18 years old

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

The Allied assaults against the so-called “Winter Line", of German and Italian fortifications saw the destruction of the 14th century Monte Cassino Monastery; one of Italy’s holiest sites.

There were 54,000 allied casualties in the Battle of Monte Cassino

Mr Hearn was a driver with the Royal Army Service Corps and has very clear memories of the battle.

"I was told one day to drive to Monte Cassino, but I was pulled up by a military policeman who told me the road ahead was full of snipers.

"But I had my orders so I carried on."

Jack Hearn's son John also served in the military, including in Afghanistan

Mr Hearn has returned to Italy a number of times, but this year his son John, who was himself in the armed forces, will go with him for the first time.

"We are all very proud of him," John said.

"Knowing the sacrifices that people made in the past, we need to remember them and what they went through."

Jack Hearn is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest Judo teacher in the world

Jack Hearn may be 100, but he is not ruling out more trips to Italy to "pay homage to those who did not come back".

"I would like to go back again but that's in the hands of God, but I hope if I'm able I'll go back many times more," he said.

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