Royal Marine, 101, has stolen war medals replaced

A 101-year-old former Royal Marine commando has been presented with a set of replacement medals after his original ones were stolen.

James Laughlin was one of about 17,000 marines involved in D-Day, and swam - armed only with a knife which he held between his teeth - to Gold Beach to clear mines that were a danger to landing craft.

He was handed his new medals at his Accrington care home by Lt Col Ralph Assheton, a deputy lieutenant for Lancashire, who said the veteran was "quite something".

Mr Laughlin, who said his time in Normandy in 1944 was "just a day's work" received a 1939-45 Star, an Africa Star, an Italy Star, a Defence Medal and a War Medal.

D-Day was the largest military seaborne operation ever attempted, and marked the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-west Europe.

Mr Laughlin said he had thrown pebbles at mines on the beach to set them off.

Born in Leeds, he served between 1941 and 1945 and was a plasterer by trade before and after his time in the marines, but later settled in Accrington.

His medals had been on the wall of his home before a neighbour noticed they had gone missing before Mr Laughlin went into hospital in October.

They were commissioned after Sid Sadiq, an Armed Forces veteran advocate support officer with East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, applied to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to get them replaced.

Mr Sadiq served for 22 years in the Royal Army Dental Corps as a medical practice manager and now supports veterans who come to the trust as inpatients.

He said when he contacted the MoD they had no official record of Mr Laughlin being awarded the medals so they were able to issue original ones rather than duplicates.

"He was in Germany, Italy and Africa," Mr Sadiq said of Mr Laughlin. "It's an amazing thing to reach the age he's reached and to achieve some of the things he's achieved."

• 1939-45 Star - campaign medal awarded for service in World War Two
• Africa Star - campaign medal for service in North Africa between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943
• Italy Star - campaign medal for operational service in Sicily or Italy in World War Two
• Defence Medal - campaign medal awarded for service in World War Two
• War Medal - granted in addition to the campaign stars and the Defence Medal for service in World War Two

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