REMEMBRANCE events this weekend will be the first for decades without Second World War hero Len Gibson, who died, aged 101, in July.

But his legacy, words encouraging peace and kindness to each other, live on in his memoir, A Wearside Lad in World War II.

The book was republished to help raise funds for Daft As A Brush Cancer Patient Care, the North East-based charity he supported for many years.

Mr Gibson, from Sunderland, backed the charity’s drive to extend its services, providing transport for cancer patients across the country, saying no one was ever too old to volunteer to help others with small acts of kindness.

One of the last survivors of the infamous Burma Death Railway, as a prisoner of the Japanese during the conflict in the Far East, his personal account of his extraordinary and inspirational life is helping the charity to open new volunteer centres across the country.

Copies of A Wearside Lad in World War II is available via the charity’s website, www.daftasabrush.org.uk, or by post to Daft As A Brush House, Gosforth, Newcastle, NE3 2DR.

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