Ninety-four-year-old Arthur Hammond - known to friends and family as "Les" - was desperate to sign up to train as a fighter pilot aged 18, only to be turned away after failing an eye test.
Yet he found himself called up six months later for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and the eager then-19-year-old was among those descending on Juno Beach as part of the Normandy landings.
Only, none of his colleagues lived on - and the enthusiasm he felt beforehand very swiftly turned to fear, when confronted by the death and destruction all round and enduring a night of bombardment at the foot of Hill 112 he felt sure he would not survive.
Mr Hammond, and registered blind but still a vibrant talker, a campaigner for blind veterans and twice-weekly dancer, is among the surviving D-Day veterans taken by boat to Normandy this week by the Royal British Legion - via several port stops both here and in France for more ceremonies along the way.
Before setting off from Dover on Sunday, he told Metro from his Northampton home: "I think they're really rolling out the red carpet for us this time.
"I'm sure it's going to feel very emotional. It's good to know that plenty of people do remain aware of what went on and I know feel very appreciative too."
He recalled: "I was 19 - the youngest in my unit - and at that age, you just want to get out there.
"I thought, the sooner we get to Normandy the better - but as soon as it starts, everything becomes very real. Every memory is still absolutely vivid in my mind now.
"We moved about a fair bit once on the ground but there was one night we were camped out but were sighted from above by the Germans - and once it became dark they mortared us all through the night.
"Air raids - machine-gunned by planes overhead, hour after hour after hour.
"That was the worst night of my life. Nothing could ever frighten me like that - I was thinking throughout: I'm 19 and I'm going to die.
"And yet I'm still here, 75 years later. I don't know how. You come through something like that and wonder whether you really do have a chance after all.
"But it changes you. You go out thinking you're joining a Boy's Own adventure - right up until you start seeing dead bodies and realise, no, it's really not so funny, at all."
After surviving the D-Day landings, he and his team pushed to Marcelet - a village not far from Caen - where they dug trenches, before continuing on through Belgium and the Netherlands and crossing the Rhine into Germany.
After the war ended he was posted to Cairo, was demobbed in 1947 and joined the family business, a shop called Hammonds seeling leather and metal finery for shoes.
Despite attempts to trace D-Day colleagues, he only managed to find one with whom he kept in touch until their death several years ago.
Mr Hammond added: "I always tell people: I'm not a hero, though I served with men who were. I'm very thankful to be a survivor.
"But I do treasure the Legion d'Honneur us Normandy veterans have been given by France. When I wear that, I wear it for the chaps who didn't come back."
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