A 94 YEARS old veteran of the Normandy landings was forced to return from a nostalgic visit to the battlefields because his home had been burgled.

Eric Vaughan had been on an English Channel cruise in the liner Black Watch, with his wife Beryl, when a phone call from a neighbour told them their Prestatyn home had been burgled and ransacked.

Beryl said: “We were a day out of St Malo when the call came. The crew were wonderfully supportive, they arranged for us to get home straight away and booked the last two seats on a flight from nearby Dinard to East Midlands Airport.”

“When we got home after the flight and a long taxi ride, we found the burglar had forced the kitchen window and had taken my laptop and a number of Eric’s wartime souvenirs, including two watches and money from the time including a Nazi Reichmark.”

Mr Vaughan, who served as a Royal Marine Commando with 47 Commando in Normandy, and the Allied advance through northern France, Belgium and Holland, said: “It was bitterly disappointing to be called back and very distressing to see our home had been ransacked.

“This was to have been the first time I had been back to Normandy since 1944, and at my age I doubt I’ll go again. I had been looking forward to seeing some of the places where I served and reviving my memories.”

He said he joined the Royal Marines in 1942 and was demobbed in 1946. Originally from Bodelwyddan, he returned there to work for the MOD at an Army camp. He was subsequently employed in a factory making electrical products in St Asaph.

In addition to his British war service medals he was also awarded the French Legion d’honneur. He has a son who lives in Bodelwyddan. "I'm glad I took my medals with me and they weren't taken."