A 95-year-old war veteran has been honoured by the regiment he served with during WW2 at his funeral in Yiewsley today (October 17).

Percy Alec McCormack served with the London Irish Rifles for six years during the Second World War after signing up when he was just 18-years-old.

Born in Ealing, Mr McCormack moved with his family to West Drayton as a child. He was called up to join the war effort as soon as he was old enough.

He served in Egypt and Tunisia before fighting in the costly Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy.

Monte Cassino involved four battles and resulted in around 55,000 casualties from the allied forces.

Mr McCormack's daughter Maureen, one of nine children, said: "He was obviously a young man when he fought in Italy and we can't imagine what he must have seen.

Percy Alec McCormack in his uniform at the age of 18

"All he used to tell us was about his downtime in Italy, and how he used to go out and meet girls and he would joke and make it sound like he had very fond memories of the place.

"Myself and my sister took him back to Italy because we thought he would like to see it again, but it was clear that was really very difficult for him.

"It really gave us a different insight into his life - he never spoke about the bad things," she said.

A piper and four serviceman from D Company, The London Irish Rifles, attended Mr McCormack's funeral held at St Matthew's Church in High Street, Yiewsley.

His brother and sister, twins Reggie and Rene, 86, were also at the funeral, along with his large family of children and grandchildren.

After the war, the rifleman returned to Yieswley in September 1945 and met up with old friends, including one of his sister's friends, Averill.

"My mum and dad had known each other before the war, but mum didn't see dad for six years while he was away and they met up again once he had returned," Maureen said.

"Within a month, they were married."

Mr and Mrs McCormack married at the same church which held his funeral today and christened their nine children there; the eldest Maureen, with her siblings Sheila, Celia, Alec, Christine, Vincent, Dean, Lance and Shawn - who died as a baby.

"There were a lot of us and times were sometimes hard but we never went hungry, and mum and dad made sure we were always provided for.

"We were a very happy family. Christmas was always the best at our house because there were so many of us and we always had someone to play with. The rest of the family always wanted to come to us for Christmas because it was always the most fun," Maureen said.

Percy Alec McCormack

Mr McCormack worked as a bricklayer, helping to build houses across the borough, and did not retire until he was in his 70s.

"Our dad worked really hard for his whole life and we wanted to pay tribute to him," his daughter said.