A DECORATED war veteran from Bromsgrove who was handed a prestigious medal for his service during the D-Day landings has died at the age of 95.

Peter Ward enlisted in the Royal Navy in September 1941 aged 19 – qualifying as a radar operator – and served from Africa, the Arctic, to the coast off Japan.

He was awarded France’s highest military honour, the prestigious Legion d'Honneur medal, for his service during the D-Day landings in June 1944.

He was also awarded an Ushakov Medal for his service escorting Russian convoys through the Arctic, in what Winston Churchill described as “the worst journey in the world”.

He told the Advertiser last year he “made it my duty to tell as many people what went on during World War Two as possible”, and did so through visits to children at local schools.

He was also an author who recalled his wartime experiences in two books, and a keen musician who turned his love of music into tutoring after the war.

A “wonderful father” to his daughters Nicola and Susan, and a man who was “always ready with a smile and a joke”, Peter sadly died on Monday, May 29.

Daughter Susan Midkiff said: “He was a wonderful father and we shall miss him so much.”

Friend Peter Horridge added: “It was a pleasure to be in his company. “He would always be ready with a smile and a joke, more often than not a pun, and he loved meeting people and talking about music and current affairs.

“He also loved playing the piano for them, usually a Beethoven sonata or 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'."

Peter was born in London on February 21, 1922, and he was educated at Walpole Grammar School in Ealing, leaving to become an invoice clerk.

He enlisted in the Royal Navy and joined the Corvette ‘HMS Sweet Briar’, where he was based in Iceland patrolling the North Atlantic Ice Barrier in search of German battleships.

He spent a year at Sunk Head Fort in Harwich, and in June 1943 joined the destroyer ‘HMS Beagle’ off the west coast of Africa and the North Atlantic on Russian convoys.

He also participated in the D-Day landings in June 1944, before serving for a year on ‘HMS Arbiter’, helping to assist the British Pacific Fleet off the coast of Japan.

After the war he became a student at Worcester Teacher Training College, where he met his late wife Jean Rawlings, who he married in 1949, and became a music tutor.

He was a tutor at Kidderminster’s Summerfield College for 10 years - which later merged with Shenstone College in Bromsgrove - helped initiate the Bromsgrove Young Musicians Platform, and was pianist for the Barnt Green Choral Society.

He also jointly formed the Birmingham Conservatoire Association in 1980.

During his 40 years living in Bromsgrove, he published two books on his wartime experiences – 'From Africa to the Arctic' in 2003 and 'Pacific Voyage' in 2005.

A funeral service will take place at St Godwald's Church on Wednesday, June 7, at 9.15am.

Donations can be made to Birmingham Conservatoire Association c/o R L Rea Funeral Directors.