"We're so tremendously proud' ..tributes as Battle of the Bulge paratrooper hero dies at age 97

TRIBUTES have been paid to Second World War paratrooper Tom Schaffer who has died aged 97.

- James Podesta

The former butcher's boy was only 18 as Nazi forces launched the month-long Battle of the Bulge in Belgium in December 1944.

He was later dropped behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced into Germany, one of 16,000 airborne troops in Operation Varsity in March 1945. After landing near the northern Rhine, the men set up a bridgehead and captured 3,500 German soldiers in bitter fighting The action paved the way for the Nazi surrender two months later.

Tom's daughter Christine said the family were "tremendously proud" of him. He was treated as a hero on commemorative trips to Normandy and Holland.

Tom, from Mill Hill, North London, volunteered for the Paras and was with the 6th Airborne division at the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes.

His battalion lost 61 men in the campaign but Tom was unscathed.