Guard of honour at funeral for D-Day veteran

A funeral has been held for a World War Two veteran who took part in D-Day and helped liberate a concentration camp.

The funeral for Donald "Don" Sheppard, who died aged 104, was held at St Martin's Church in Basildon, Essex, on Friday.

The coffin was escorted to the service on a gun carriage, with military personnel forming a guard of honour.

Mr Sheppard, from Basildon, was a dispatch rider for the Royal Engineers, and landed on Juno beach on 6 June 1944 in a landing ship tank.

After breaking through Nazi lines in the August, he continued through to Belgium, the Netherlands and eventually Germany - including to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Speaking of his experience, Mr Sheppard said: "I shall never forget that for the rest of my life. How one human could do that to another."

In June he received a police escort to attend a special service marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day at the Living Memorial at Rettendon, near Chelmsford.

His daughter Jacqui Scott said the response since his death had been "very heartening".

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