I was born in 1940 in Abertillery and it was just my parents, my sister and me.

Life was totally different to what it is today. When I came home from school I’d have tea and they wouldn’t see me until the lights went out.

I didn’t know my father until I was six years old because he was fighting in the war in Germany. He was serving in the Royal Army Service Corps.

I went to the infants’ school, the junior school, then the secondary modern, and then technical school in Abertillery.

I missed national service because I was on an apprenticeship.

My father had done his bit so I wanted to do my bit. I joined the Territorial Army in Abertillery with my next-door neighbour and we had a good time.

I was a medic, and that meant if there was any live firing, we would have to cover it.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. We went all over the place.

I did a camp in Germany for two weeks, and Gibraltar. I met a guy there in 1976 and we have been mates ever since.

Normally we would have a sick parade every morning and check everyone. We would just look after those people and the rest of the time we were involved in training.

It was busy but it was enjoyable.

I did 13 years with the Territorial Army as a medic attached to the Royal Regiment of Wales, which is now the Royal Welsh Regiment, then a couple of boys asked me to join the British Legion in Abertillery.

I used to carry the standard on occasions for the Royal Regiment of Wales. Then, when I joined the Legion, the standard bearer was retiring and they asked me if I would take it on, so I did and I’m still doing it.

Our details were put on to a website so when there was a fatality in Afghanistan they would send us a message about how many were coming home and the date and we would jump in the cars and go up to Royal Wootton Bassett.

The majority of the work is funerals and to guard at the services.

There are four of us from Gwent who go.

We would show up just to show our respect to the families.

I remember when they brought some Fijian boys back and the friends and family were on the other side of the road and they started singing. That finished me off.

Another funeral was where they brought a dog handler and the dog back and that really got to me too.

The families sometimes send us letters, but we don’t go there for them to say anything. We just go out of respect. We don’t expect anyone to say ‘thank you’, but they do and that’s nice. It’s surprising how many people think we get paid, but we don’t.

It’s been a good experience, I’ve met a lot of people.

We were there when Princess Margaret gave Wootton Bassett the royal assent.

It was such an occasion, and we made so many friends. There were some days we were there in the rain and snow, but we always turned up.

Sine the base at Lyneham closed we haven’t had to go to Brize Norton, where the new repatriation centre is, for a while. We went once last year for a man who died on a training exercise.

I still travel a lot now. I’m going to the National Memorial Arboretum on June 6 and over to Belgium in August for the Battle of Passchendaele memorial.

We were all there when they unveiled a new memorial in 2014.

I also did a service at the Menin Gate Memorial and that was something else.

We have visited a lot of the war grave cemeteries, and we did the beaches which was good to see where my father was.

I am also involved in the Poppy Appeal.

We go to St David’s Hall for the remembrance service and I was on the stage at the Albert Hall for the Festival of Remembrance in 2010.

It’s a good day, but it’s a hard day.

You start at 8.30am for rehearsals and then you do a service at 2pm and then you do another service in the evening.

It is very moving, but so are the ones in Cardiff. I have met Katherine Jenkins and Norman Wisdom. Shakin’ Stevens was in Cardiff last year.

When we go to Cardiff we see people I haven’t seen since the previous year, so it’s a good place to catch up and throw a few tales about.

I was 34 years working in the gas board, and I ended up down in Abergavenny with my second wife Margaret, who was from Newport.

I have had a good life, and with Margaret I went on plenty of holidays all over the place: Russia, China – you name it, we’ve been there.

She was always with me. Whenever I went on a parade she was always there.

She had Alzheimer’s and I nursed her for three years, which was a struggle.

Then she went into hospital in Chepstow in June 2013 because I just couldn’t cope. I used to go up every day from 10 in the morning until 10 at night.

Then, on August 24, 2013, I was travelling up the Raglan bypass and had a heart attack.

I had three cardiac arrests and was airlifted to Cardiff.

I don’t remember a thing about it. I was in hospital for three weeks and they put some stents in and I came home.

Margaret passed away on December 15 of the same year.

I have moved about a fair bit in my life but, Abertillery is my home town.

I’m a bit old in the tooth at 77.

Some days I feel it, I have had my share of health problems, but I don’t drink a lot.

I got three families in my life: my own family, the family with the British Legion and a family with the Comrades Association.