D -DAY: DECORATED Second World War hero Cameron Gough returned to the bridge of the gunboat he commanded 60 years ago, to lead a flotilla of boats back to the beaches of Normandy.

Mr Gough's vessel, Motor Gun Boat 81, was fast, heavily armed and played a vital role in preventing German torpedo boats from attacking vulnerable troop ships packed with Allied soldiers.

The former Royal Navy Lieutenant, of Chilvester Hill, in Calne, admitted he was overcome with emotion when he climbed back on board his boat, which then sailed across the Channel on Sunday to join in the D-Day celebrations.

Mr Gough's gunboat is the only original craft of its kind that remains from the war and it cost nearly £1 million to restore it back to its former glory.

"It was a very emotional day and when I went back on board it was like being welcomed by my old crew," the veteran said.

"I have never been back, but on the day I remembered the nice things that happened not the nasty things."

But the 81-year-old, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry, nearly did not make it when he suffered a nasty fall days before he was set to embark.

He was so shaken he decided at first to cancel the trip, but when his worried wife Jeanne, 74, realised how miserable he was at the prospect of missing out she hid her worries and insisted he go.

"I was nearly in tears when we drove him down to the coast in the morning, but I tried very hard not to cry," said Mrs Gough. "I feared I would never see him again. I mean it's a 50/50 chance, a man of 80 going on a boat for hours on end with nowhere to sit down."

Fortunately Mr Gough, who served onboard one vessel with actor Patrick Mcnee, who went on to play John Steed in hit-television series The Avengers, made it back, despite spending five hours standing up on deck on the return leg of the journey.

A tearful Mrs Gough was at the quayside with a large crowd and a brass band to welcome home her husband when he returned on Sunday afternoon.

He was then whisked back to Calne where his children and grandchildren met him for a welcome home party.

On his 21st birthday, a few months before D-Day, Mr Gough, whose grandfather founded the local law firm Goughs in 1882, was wounded when his unit of two MGBs attacked a trawler near the Channel Islands. Shrapnel hit him after shore fire ignited a box of hand grenades.

The night before D-Day, the former Marlborough schoolboy, who joined the Royal Navy aged 17 as an ordinary seaman, was tasked with taking his boat into the middle of the channel. The craft had a signal on board, which acted as a beacon for Allied gliders navigating their way to Pegasus Bridge.

In the first few days after D-Day, Mr Gough's boat protected the concrete harbours constructed next to the beaches, which were dragged across the channel by tugs. He was also charged with safeguarding Allied shipping from German gun boats armed with torpedoes. "When I saw how organised it was I was amazed," he said.

"The dress rehearsal at Slapton Sands (in Devon) went all wrong and cost a lot of lives, but probably saved a lot on D-Day."

When the Allies attacked Caen, Mr Gough's boat helped blockade the sea-lanes leading to the besieged town. He discovered his two best school friends were both engaged in the battle, one flying Mosquito fighter-bombers, the other a tank commander.

They were both killed in the same week that Mr Gough was badly wounded when the group of vessels he was with encountered several German gun boats off the coast of Le Havre.

A bullet went straight through his arm and he suffered shrapnel wounds.

Only days before, Mr Gough moored off Sword Beach. He decided he wanted to set foot on French soil so walked on to the beach where he was approached by a Frenchman who attempted to sell him some brie.