Henry's near miss just before the end

A WAR veteran whose ship was narrowly missed by a torpedo just days before VE Day says he is frightened, as he can see a world war erupting once again.

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Henry Rice, 99, from Cranleigh in Surrey, was a Royal Navy signalman who says he very nearly didn't make it to VE Day.

His job was to communicate with crew and other ships using flags and lights.

He was on lookout patrol on HMS Eastway, two weeks before Germany surrendered, when he spotted the wake of a torpedo heading towards them in the Bristol Channel. Luckily the ship was basically flat-bottomed and survived unscathed as it passed by.

So you wouldn't think much could shake this veteran, but he admitted: "I'm frightened. It could happen again.

"What really worries me is in living memory, we've had these wars, we've had thousands killed. What does Putin want? Haven't they learned their lesson from this?

"I am not going to live long enough to see any future problem with the world but my sons and grandsons - as with every other family in the world - are going to grow up and possibly at the age of 18, 19 and 20, be called up and we will go through this again.