CYRIL Ernest Painter, who survived a Kamikaze attack directed at a Royal Navy boat he was on in the Pacific Ocean during the Second World War, died at the age of 92 on November 1.

Mr Painter was born on December 12, 1923, in Lower Swell, Gloucestershire, to parents Albert and Theresa Painter. He had three brothers, Les, John and Donald, and a sister, Becky.

At the age of five the family moved to Marlborough and he went onto study at the Marlborough Boys School, followed by the grammar school.

After leaving school he began working as a plumber before getting an apprenticeship with GEC electrical.

Soon after, he joined the Royal Navy as a radar operator. In the Second World War, the British warship that he was on was hit by a Kamikaze plane and he was the only person on board to survive.

At the end of the war, he returned to Wiltshire and began a long and successful career in the police force, serving in Swindon, Bratton, Marlborough and Ramsbury.

In the midst of this he married childhood sweetheart Patricia Yockney in 1949, at Marlborough’s St Mary’s Church.

The couple, who were both accomplished tennis players and regularly won Wiltshire Police competitions, went on to have three children: Timothy in 1953, Pauline in 1955 and Debra in 1964.

For a time, Mr Painter was a boys’ brigade captain and a member of the Marlborough Constitutional Church and was fond of taking the family to camping trips across England.

“He was a great father, he loved pulling people’s legs and spending time and singing songs with his grandchildren,” said his son Timothy Painter.

Mr Painter leaves behind him four grandchildren and five great great grandchildren.