Jim Boardman obituary

My father, Jim Boardman, who has died aged 97, was a career soldier who joined the army at the age of 15 and saw action from Normandy to Hamburg in the second world war. He and his regiment arrived on Juno beach in July 1944 and fought through to Germany and the war's end the following year.

One of five children, Jim was born in Withyham, East Sussex, where his parents, Gladys (nee Shed) and Harry, ran a pub. Jim attended school in Groombridge and left at 14. He joined the army on his 15th birthday in March 1939 as European peace disintegrated. Once the war began, he moved through training areas up and down the UK until the Normandy landings began in June 1944.