One of Scotland's last surviving D Day veterans died a week before Remembrance Sunday

One of Scotland’s last living D-Day veterans died just one week before Remembrance Sunday, aged 100. Charlie Horne died at Erskine Veterans Charity’s Edinburgh Home on Tuesday, where he had been living for the past few months. At the age of 18, Mr Horne served on a small wooden minesweeper which was attacked on June 6, 1944. During the Normandy landings, he helped clear sea mines off Omaha Beach. The veteran, from Prestonpans in East Lothian, Scotland, said that what he witnessed on D-Day has stayed with him for the rest of his life.

“I will never forget what I saw. I don’t think you could live through something like that and ever really leave it behind, no matter how many years pass”, he told the Telegraph. Read more: 'We fought for the country, will this country fight for us?': Homeless veterans camping on Salisbury Plain ahead of Remembrance Sunday Read more: Record-breaking £1.7m raised by Poppy Appeal ahead of Remembrance Day “I was only 18, and there were ships being blown apart, men in the water and shells coming towards us from the shore.”

He continued: “There were mines underneath us, and you knew that one explosion in the wrong place could be the end of you and everyone around you. “You were frightened, of course you were, but there wasn’t time to sit and think about it. “We had a job to do, the men beside you were relying on you, and you were relying on them, so you carried on.” Mr Horne says he will “never forget” the men who did not return home. After the war, he returned home to marry his sweetheart Jenny and worked as a seafarer.

He had three daughters with Jenny, who died in 2009. Mr Horne's service was later recognised with the Legion d’honneur, France’s highest order of merit. Wing Commander Ian Cumming, chief executive of Erskine Veterans Charity, said: “We are deeply saddened by Charlie’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family, friends and everyone who knew and loved him. “His passing is particularly poignant as we approach Remembrance. “We are losing the last of a generation who experienced the Second World War firsthand, and with each passing, another irreplaceable connection to that period of our history is lost.

“It was a privilege to care for Charlie in the final months of his life.”