Very well-done, Sir.

Peter Vernon-Ward had been warned by doctors that he must have his leg amputated or face being slowly poisoned from ruptured wounds sustained when rifle butts were smashed into his legs in a German prison camp during World War Two.

But Mr Vernon-Ward refused the operation three years ago “because he saw it as giving in to the Nazis”.

The poison finally killed him in his sleep on Sunday aged 86.

Mr Vernon-Ward enlisted as a 17-year-old and was sent to Dunkirk in 1940 as part of a decoy operation. But he was captured almost immediately alongside 1,000 other men and sent on a gruelling march to a work camp near Auschwitz in southern Poland.

He was told by the Nazis he would work as a miner but the young soldier refused and was tortured by Gestapo henchmen who smashed his legs with their rifles.

In agony, Mr Vernon-Ward eventually relented for fear of being shot and spent five years working in the mines.

During that time, he and fellow captives forged an escape plan and, one night, burst free from their prison.

After weeks on the run, hiding in farmland barns and being helped by local families, Mr Vernon-Ward was spotted by an American patrol and his ordeal was finally over.

… More than 50 years later the ulcers in Peter’s legs caused by the original injuries perforated.

“[According to his son Bob] He was such a determined and dignified man and there was no way he was going to give in to the enemy and have his legs amputated all those years later.”

[h/t London Telegraph]

Good Rest and God Speed.