Military funeral for 'kind and funny' D-Day veteran

Len Trewin met King Charles III as part the UK's national commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of D-Day

Crowds of mourners gathered to say a final goodbye to one of the last surviving D-Day veterans.

Leonard Trewin from Yate, South Gloucestershire of the Parachute Regiment, died on 20 September - four weeks after his 101st birthday.

In 2019 he was given the Legion D'Honneur, France's highest order of merit, for his role in the liberation of France during World War Two.

His funeral procession was led by a group of the Airborne Forces Riders on motorbikes and the Parachute Regiment mascot, Pegasus the pony.

Mr Trewin's life was celebrated with a full military funeral arranged by the Parachute Regiment

Mr Trewin, known as Len, joined the 8th Parachute Battalion fighting in Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and Operation Varsity.

The paratrooper made 75 jumps and fought his way through France after D-Day.

When reflecting on his 101st birthday in August, his family shared that Mr Trewin said: "I've certainly led an eventful life, which is perhaps the secret to a long life."

Paul Turner, chairman at Bristol Normandy Veterans, was at his funeral in Westerleigh earlier and described him an "an amazing man".

He added, Mr Trewin was a "man that you are just so proud to know" with a smile that "made you melt".

Mr Trewin fought in Operation Varsity from which a piece of shrapnel remained above his eye ever since

Lieutenant colonel Liam Cradden of the Parachute Regiment met Mr Trewin eight years ago and said it was one of his "greatest privileges to get to know Len".

He described him as an "incredibly warm hearted, kind, funny, lovely man and a real gentleman".

There are now very few surviving Normandy veterans, only two in Bristol, they were a generation of military that Lt Col Cradden described as "men that set the standard for us 80 years on".