WILTSHIRE TIMES EXCLUSIVE: TIGHT security surrounding D-Day anniversary events in France shattered a Trowbridge man's wish to visit his father's grave on the 60th anniversary of his death.

Fred Tredrea, 61, and his 37-year-old son Lee wanted to visit their relative's final resting place at Normandy's Bayeux Cemetery but were turned away by armed guards.

The pair had arrived 15-hours before Royals and world leaders.

Fears of a terrorist attack meant veterans and relatives were stopped from visiting graves of loved ones, despite holding passports and security passes.

Mr Tredrea, of Harmony Place, was 18-months old when his 27-year-old father William was killed in the first wave of British attacks on beaches at Arromanches on June 6, 1944.

Speaking about his D-Day disappointment, he said: "There were four armed guards and despite all our efforts there was no way they were going to let us in. A few elderly veterans walked past but they were forced back. I can understand the security but I can't understand why it was so strict the day before, when we went.

"I wanted to show Lee where his grandfather was buried. You cannot help but get emotional."

London-based chef Lee hoped to use the weekend coach trip to find out more about his family's history. He said: "It was really disappointing as my mother paid for us to go. It was kind of a bonding thing for my dad and me so to go all that way and be turned away was a big disappointment. I think my dad was upset for me."

To make matters worse the tour bus failed to stop at any of the beaches where Sapper Tredrea and thousands of other soldiers braved a terrifying deluge of enemy fire, instead playing US war film The Longest Day at full volume as they sped past. Lee said showing the 1962 war epic was a disgusting and offensive way to mark the emotional trip.

"As we were driving next to the beach where the troops landed and many died we had explosions and gunfire coming from the TV," he said.

Gloucestershire-based tour organisers Travel Scope said it took advice from the Veterans Agency on films to screen, and never promised customers the tour would stop at any beach or cemetery.

Mr Tredrea, a self-employed plumber, has amassed folders of precious memorabilia on a father he never got the chance to know, including original call-up papers and a handwritten letter from an army captain expressing sorrow over his father's death.

Mr Tredrea has letters from his father sent just 19-days before he died, but wants to know more about his movements leading up to Operation Overlord.

"I was 18-months old when he died, and my father was 18-months old when his father died in the First World War," he said.

"I want to know what the guy was like. "You think back to what it must have been like for him. I keep thinking, was it worth it? The guy died and what was it for?"

"One of the things that did affect me was when someone showed me Saving Private Ryan. I made them turn it off when it came to the beach scene as if that was what my grandfather went through, it must have been hell.

"We are going to go back by whatever means. I have a taste of my grandfather's experiences and I want to go back to see it all properly."