It was a long way from his home on the north Norfolk coast in Mundesley, near Cromer, but he became a determined serviceman.

Two years later, however, disaster struck when he was diagnosed with mastoiditis - an infection of the bone behind the ear. But he was still determined to serve.

Reginald Curtis has died aged 101 (Image: Newsquest)

After being medically discharged from the RAF, he joined the Navy instead and remembers having just sailed off the coast of Gibraltar when the first atomic bomb went off.

Here he would serve on convoy protection duties in the Mediterranean Sea.

Owing to a photographic memory, Reg could remember much of his life vividly and attributed his longevity and quality of life to his countryside upbringing which offered "a........

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