Ref. 30122-55A WORLD War Two veteran is to visit the grave of his best friend for the first time since the disastrous Arnhem landings 60 years ago.

Doug Payne last saw George Froud with other walking wounded soldiers during fierce fighting near the Rhine crossing, which later became infamous as A Bridge Too Far.

It was only much later, when Doug was a prisoner of war that he was told his closest friend was missing in action.

"We were like brothers," said Mr Payne, now 83.

"This will be the first opportunity I have had to see his grave."

The whereabouts of George's body remained a mystery for decades until his remains were found in a doctor's garden near Oosterbeek only seven years ago.

Doug was invited to a full military burial ceremony but he was too ill to make the journey to Holland and missed the chance to pay his respects.

He is scheduled to travel later this summer as veterans from the UK and America converge on the 1944 invasion sites to mark the 60th anniversary of the landings.

It will be his final visit to the battlefield where he was injured and eventually taken prisoner.

"I want to see where my friend is buried," said Doug, who was George's best man at his wedding and godfather to his son Terrance.

"The Ministry of Defence called when they were trying to find his family and asked me to represent them if they couldn't locate them in time.

"But my wife Lilian and I were both ill and we couldn't go."

Now at 83, he is facing his last chance to say a proper goodbye to his comrade.

A nationwide appeal eventually found Terrance who had been adopted by an aunt.

The friends, both members of the Border Regiment, were part of the 1st Airborne Landing Brigade who flew from the former Blake Hill Farm airfield, near Cricklade, to try to capture the bridge at Arnhem.

"We were in different platoons but all the units were very close in our regiment and we spent a lot of time together," he explained.

Three days after George was wounded in a battle at a crossroads, Doug was almost killed at the same spot.

"I was hit in the side by a mortar bomb. I still had 15 rounds in my ammunition belt and I was lucky that the shrapnel missed it. When I woke up everyone had gone. They all thought I was dead. When I got up a machine gun got me."

He was hit in the leg and lost an eye but was rescued by two of his comrades and taken under a flag of truce to a field hospital. He was later taken prisoner as allied forces retreated.

Now Doug, who has Parkinson's Disease, is planning to make the five-day trip this September with neighbour Bob Robinson, 66, acting as escort. They have applied for a grant from the lottery funded Heroes Return scheme, but if successful, it will only bring in £525 of the £1,400 they estimate they will need to pay for their accommodation, transport and meals.

So they are saving every spare penny of their pensions to put towards the cost.

"I've suggested to the Borough Council that it would be nice if they could offer something to the veterans who made a huge sacrifice. We are paying our own way, but lots of them can't afford it.

"We know money is tight, but a contribution would let the veterans know they were remembered," said Bob.

Tina Clarke