ELDERLY Army veteran Bill Lyons received a special visit from fellow servicemen on Armed Forces Day.

The 74-year-old resident of Bannatyne Lodge Care Home, in Peterlee, was thrilled to meet two soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment.

Sergeant Stephen Row of the 1st Battalion and Lance Corporal Christopher O’Callaghan of the 2nd Battalion visited Bill after hearing he was unable to attend the town’s Armed Forces Day parade. Bill spent nine years in the Durham Light Infantry, where he rose to the rank of corporal.

Care home activities coordinator, Dawn Minto, contacted the Armed Forces careers office in Middlesbrough to arrange the visit. She said: “Bill isn’t able to mobilise well, so I asked if any of the soldiers could visit him. He was delighted to talk to them about Army life. He hadn’t talked as much for months.”