FORMER National Serviceman Fred Greenaway says he will never forget the day of the Queen's coronation 50 years ago.

He was chosen to be among the elite of British troops on parade for the glittering occasion and remembers with pride marching ahead of the new sovereign through the streets of London, which were lined with cheering well wishers.

Now 69, Mr Greenaway says that Coronation Day on June 2 1953 was the most outstanding day of his service career.

He was working in farming at West Kennett when he was called up for two years' of National Service, which not only gave him the chance to take part in the coronation but also the opportunity to see the world.

Like all other National Service men he was plucked from his familiar life and thrown into the totally different life of being a soldier.

Mr Greenaway could have sought exemption because he was a farm worker helping to grow the food that was still vital to the nation in the days following the war, when some provisions were still on ration.

His mum tried to persuade him not to join up because his father, also called Fred, had served with the Wiltshire Regiment in the Second World War and died after being injured in action near Rome.

Mr Greenaway, who lives at West Kennett with his wife Beryl and has four grandchildren, said: "Mother did not want me to go into the Army."

National Service, however, gave the farm worker who had never previously travelled further than the seaside, the opportunity to see some of the world.

He spent eight months in Tripoli in Africa and later spent another eight months in Germany.

He was about halfway through his two years' Bational Service when he was chosen to be in the Coronation Day squad of his unit, the 16th/5th Lancers.

Two months was devoted to extra square bashing and parade duties to ensure that Trooper Greenaway and his colleagues were foot perfect on the big day.

Training included taking a three-mile run immediately following the 6am reveille and, after a quick breakfast, a five-mile march carrying rifles.

On the big day his unit had to carry pistols which he had never previously or to this day fired even in practice.

Mr Greenaway is inordinately proud of the fact that he was chosen from his unit for its royal escort squad.

Millions lined the processional route from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster or watched the ceremony on television to see the new Queen enthroned.

The Wiltshire soldier was in the procession ahead of the new sovereign and never got even a glimpse of her in her Coronation coach.

Mr Greenaway said: "I had a marvellous time and I would not have missed it for anything."

He said they had been so well drilled that the actual day was almost routine, but he added: "The adrenaline was pumping, I can tell you."

There was hardly a moment of his national service that he did not enjoy, he said. Another event that stands out in his memory was during his service in North Africa when he had to drive a tank in a convoy 802 miles along the shores of the Mediterranean from Tripoli to Benghazi.

After this military service Mr Greenaway returned to farm work for 36 years before spending the last ten years of his working life on the production line making agricultural machinery at Kverneland in Devizes.