The memories of one of Britain's last remaining Second World War paratroopers who lives in Kettering

"It seemed a lot better to me than wading waist deep in water!”

Private Jimmy Spencer was just a teenager when he decided to join the Parachute Regiment, having previously served in the Army’s Northamptonshire Regiment.

Fast forward 80 years and he is one of Britain’s last remaining paratroopers to have fought in the Second World War.

But he’s still able to recall his time spent jumping out of Dakota aircraft in the battle against the forces of Nazi Germany.

Jimmy, who lives at Kettering’s Westhill Park care home with wife Mary, said: "It was quite exciting really."

The 98-year-old had been helping to build mock landing craft, aiming to fool the Germans into thinking Britain was going to invade a different area, when he volunteered to join the Parachute Regiment.

In June 1944 on the day after the D-Day landings, known as D+1, Jimmy travelled by boat to Normandy to help defend what is now Pegasus Bridge and the flanks of the beaches from German attack.

Later that year his division was involved in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, which was Hitler’s last major offensive campaign on the Western Front. Jimmy, who grew up in Weldon, recalled fighting in very cold winter conditions.

And in March 1945, as the war neared its end, Jimmy took part in Operation Varsity which involved more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft. It was the largest airborne operation in history to be conducted on a single day and in one location. Thousands of men were killed as the Germans defended their land.

Former steelworker Jimmy recalled jumping out of a Dakota in daylight near Hamminkeln in Germany as part of the plot to capture key territory and destroy tanks.

He said: "I was part of a big crowd and to me it was just another job, just getting up and walking out of the plane door.

"There was a lot of booby traps and part of this job was to get rid of them and make sure the bridges were saved.

"To have one bridge blow up could have ended our advance."

Jimmy was wounded by a bayonet and shrapnel to his knee and went to a recuperation centre in Edinburgh, before serving in Egypt and Palestine in 1946.

He was demobbed in November 1947 and married Mary – who herself had a steel industry role during the war – the following month. Material from his last parachute jump, just before he was demobbed, was used for Mary’s wedding dress. Jimmy went on to work for Tarmac in Corby and ended up as a manager before retiring in his early 60s.

On Tuesday (September 26) Jimmy’s family visited him with members of the Northamptonshire branch of the Parachute Regimental Association (PRA), including David Allen from Kettering who was part of a drop into the Suez area in 1956.

They shared stories and presented Jimmy with a new Para beret and cap badge as well as a new Para tie.

Tom Blakey, who spent 25 years in the Parachute Regiment and now runs the local PRA based in Wellingborough, said: "It's amazing to hear Jimmy's stories. I had no idea that he was here and when his niece got in touch I was chuffed.

“There's not many of them left from the Second World War."

Jimmy's niece Angela Shiells said: "It just makes me so proud and I don't think he really appreciates what he did for us all. He is a very modest man."

Westhill Park care home manager Zoe Smith added: "Jimmy is really sweet and it's so nice to hear his stories.

"We all got a little bit choked up when he came down wearing his suit and beret."