D-Day: Veterans reject 'heroes' praise on 75th anniversary

Two D-Day veterans have refused to accept they were heroes, with one describing those who survived as simply "the lucky ones".

Jack Russell and Arthur Hampson were among the soldiers who took part in the historic invasion of 75 years ago.

The landings, on 6 June 1944, made up history's largest combined land, air and naval operation.

Mr Russell, 97, from Morecambe in Lancashire, said he remembered his first encounter with "the real thing" after seeing "the shells bursting up on the land" at Sword beach in northern France.

He added: "We're just the lucky ones. The ones that came back. I don't want to make a lot of fuss about it."

Mr Hampson, 93, from Formby, Merseyside, said: "We knew what job we had to do and we wanted to do it and not let anybody down.

"It was not very nice to be going, but it is very nice to have been."