THEY don't make them like Frank James any more.

Next week will mark 70 years since Frank, along with more than 160,000 others, stormed the Normandy beaches on D-Day.

The Allied invasion, which eventually saw more than three million troops on French soil, was the turning point of the Second World War and marked the beginning of the end of Hitler's regime.

Frank James, from Newport, was an Army reservist who left his job at the Lysaghts steelworks in the city to join those beginning the job of liberating western Europe from the Nazis.

Tomorrow, aged 95, he sets foot on 'Gold beach' for the first time since he was there with the Royal Dragoon Guards in 1944.

It is a day etched in his memory, as thousands of fellow British troops barely made it to the beach before being cut down by German fire.

During his stay in Normandy, Mr James will receive an honour from the French people for his role in D-Day.

Mr James, and so many of his generation, stand out because of their stoicism and the way in which they play down their actions.

They were truly made of different stuff back then.

Nothing exemplifies this more than Mr James' reaction to the honour being bestowed on him by the French, even though he is grateful for it.

He says this: "I didn't go for bloody medals."

A remarkable man.