Family memories for Jim at Cenotaph

93-year-old blind veteran Jim Sexton (far left) is off to be at the Cenotaph on Sunday EMN-160811-154949009

Jim Sexton (93) from Orton Brimbles, first attended the Remembrance Sunday parade when he was only 10 years old with his father and grandfather who both served in the Army during the First World War.

Now, 83 years later, Jim will follow in his father’s footsteps to take part in the service, which is attended by royalty, politicians and other dignitaries and veterans.

Jim will be marching with other blind veterans, thanks to the charity Blind Veterans UK, who support thousands of ex servicemen and women like Jim.

93-year-old blind veteran Jim Sexton is off to be at the Cenotaph on Sunday EMN-160811-155004009

He said his thoughts would be with his fallen family as he walked to the service at 11am on Sunday. He said: “I’m incredibly grateful to Blind Veterans UK for giving me this opportunity and I’m proud to march with them.

“I’ll be thinking of both my dad and grandad who fought during the Battle of the Somme as well as the brother my dad lost during the First World War.”

Jim joined the Army in 1942. He served in Algeria, Italy and Greece.

In 1945, Jim retrained as a cook in Athens and became part of the Catering Corps until he was discharged in 1946 as a corporal.

He later went on to work at Peter Brotherhoods as a stock keeper until his retirement.

Chief Executive of Blind Veterans UK, Major General (Rtd) Nick Caplin CB said: “Today, Blind Veterans UK supports more blind and vision-impaired veterans than ever before in the charity’s history and we have set an ambitious target to double the number of veterans we support in the next five years.”

For more information visit www.blindveterans.org.uk