Hector Duff, probably the most remarkable Manxman alive today, has been recognised again for a lifetime of service.

The 97-year-old talked for an hour, standing all the time, about his wartime experiences to the local members of the National Association of Retired Police Officers at a packed event at the Tynwald Hill Inn in St John’s.

Mr Duff - who has been awarded the Military Medal, France’s Legion D’honneur, the British Empire Medal and the Tynwald Honour - fought in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany in the Second World War.

He took part on the first day of the D-Day landings, driving an armoured car, and also entered Belsen, the concentration camp in which tens of thousands of people died.

After the war Mr Duff, who now lives in Onchan, served as a police officer in the Manx force from 1947 to 1973, after which he worked as a driving instructor.

More recently he has been fascinating schoolchildren around the island with talks about his experiences.

His message is that nobody really wins a war

After his talk NARPO, for which he has volunteered for year, gave Mr Duff life membership in recognition of his life’s work.