DURING the Second World War, Ron Jones was a flight engineer aboard Lancasters in RAF Bomber Command.

Surviving numerous sorties above Germany, he admits he was very lucky, his only injury a leg scar when hit by shrapnel.

On Sunday, 89-year-old Ron proudly wore his medals at the Ashburton War Memorial.

Now blind, his daughters Carol Goodburn and Di Baker travelled from Fleet, Hampshire, to lay wreaths on his behalf – Ron standing to attention and saluting as they did so.

Mrs Baker laid a wreath for Bomber Command, and Mrs Goodburn for the Gurkhas. Their grandfather, Edwin Cornelius Jones, served with the Gurkha Rifles in India where Ron grew up, attending Lovedale Military College. At 13, Ron's parents put him on a ship for England and as a young teenager he decided to join the new RAF.

He went to the Technical Training School, starting his apprenticeship at Scampton, Lincolnshire, home of the Lancaster bomber.

The family are all active members of the Lancaster Bomber Association.

As the war finished Ron was in an aircrew sent to collect an unknown cargo. It turned out to be prisoners of war they were bringing home, which left him with lasting memories of their terrible condition.

After the war he went into civil aviation and flew as a check steward for British Caledonian Airways at Gatwick, until his sight became a problem in the early '70s.

He moved to Ashburton 30 years ago. His wife Kay, who died in the past four years, was a Devonian.

Ron, who has been actively involved in the town's Royal British Legion and the Probus Club, had a special surprise on Sunday, when his four grandchildren and three great grandchildren arrived from Fleet to take part in the service.