War vet goes back to town he set free

Alexander Jackson was last in the Umbrian town of Narni when the sixth armoured division freed it from German control on 13 June, 1944.

Now he is to return, and will be awarded honorary citizenship in recognition of his service there.

The trip has been made possible by a 2,200 award from the BIG Lottery Fund's Heroes Return programme, which helps veterans and their families return to the places they served in wartime.

Mr Jackson, who also fought at the battle of Monte Cassino, said he was delighted by the honour.

"I didn't get time to see Narni when it was captured, but I'm going this time," he said. "My wife and I have been to Italy before and we've been to Cassino, but this will be my last time, I think. It's sad when you think of all the friends and boys you lost, but we had some good times."

Mr Jackson, who was called up in 1939, also fought in the North African campaign. He said: "We finished up and then landed in Naples and that was the night that Mount Vesuvius erupted – it was beautiful.

"My job was to feed the tanks with ammunition. I didn't get much peace. That was four days of battery at Monte Cassino and we went right up through the country and it was Second Lothian and Borders Horse Brigade that liberated the town of Narni."

Mr Jackson, a former heavy goods driver who lives in Macmerry, East Lothian, will make the trip next month with wife Ann, their three children and their granddaughter.

Also looking forward to a trip thanks to Heroes Return is 87-year-old Angus Galloway from Craiglockhart. Mr Galloway served with RAF bomber command and crash-landed in France in 1944.

Immediately picked up by the Germans, he was taken to Stalag Luft 7 and then put on an enforced 150-mile march in the dead of winter to a second prisoner of war camp. Rather than revisit the places where he was imprisoned, he has chosen to return to his Canadian training camps.

He said: "I had some great times then and it will be nice to show those sites to my wife and son."

Big Lottery Fund Scotland chairwoman, Alison Magee, said: "It is humbling to hear what people had to endure. Through the Heroes Return programme we want to recognise these sacrifices and allow those that served, along with their families and carers, to reflect on that time, should they wish to do so."