ONE of the North-East's most decorated soldiers of the Second World War has died aged 86.

Major Ian English, of the 8th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, was one of only 24 soldiers to win three Military Crosses for bravery, and his exploits during the War - from Dunkirk to D-Day via the Middle East and six months as a prisoner - read like something out of a Boy's Own storybook.

Maj English's father was a mining engineer from Heworth, Gateshead, who had fought in France with the 9th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry during the First World War. So when Maj English joined up in 1938, he followed his father into the DLI.

At the outbreak of war, he was sent to France and then rescued in the boats from Dunkirk. Then he was sent out to the Middle East and pushed through Palestine and Iraq.

At El Alamein, he won his first Military Cross as the DLI advanced through Egypt into Tunisia where, at the Battle of Mareth in March 1943, he was injured and taken prisoner.

He was held near Parma, in northern Italy, for six months and, when the Italians capitulated, he was released.

For three months he walked through Italy to freedom, and ended up back home in Gateshead, where he was offered an easier life as a training officer.

"I think everyone realised then that the invasion of the continent was inevitable," he told The Northern Echo in 2004, "so I took steps to get back to the battalion I had been with since 1938.

"It was a desperate disappointment for my parents. As I'd been abroad for three years, they thought they had got me home for good."

He re-joined the 8th Battalion in April 1944; two months later he was commanding his company as it sailed towards Gold Beach for D-Day.

"The night was uneventful, although the sea got choppier and choppier," he recalled. "We were all issued with a seasick pill and I felt really queasy, but a lot of fellows were desperately sick."

The DLI landed at 11.30am on D-Day, and did not see any real action until three days later, a few miles inland, at the village of St Pierre.

"The Germans attacked with tanks," he said. "It was bad, with shelling and mortaring. We found one of our anti-tank guns without a crew, but I suddenly realised that we didn't have any idea how to work the blessed thing.

"I came crashing back through the orchard to get some help, and I must confess I thought to myself 'what am I doing here?' when I could have had a training job."

Once Maj English had worked out how to use the gun, it seriously damaged four German tanks, although the Battle of St Pierre cost the lives of 36 DLI soldiers, with 130 more wounded. And then Maj English was ordered to withdraw.

"After all the effort we had put into this place, we were very disappointed to give it up," he said, "and to this day I'm not sure why.

"The Battle of Mareth was the worst battle I was in, but St Pierre was bad.

"But then when we got mobile through France doing 20 or 30 miles a day, rounding up Germans; that was great. It's funny how things can change quickly in war."

His war finally finished at Gheel, in Belgium, three months later, where he was wounded and won his third Military Cross.

After recovering, he went to Cambridge University, where he met his Danish wife Lise, and studied agriculture. For 30 years, he worked as an advisor for Fisons, and lived near Leyburn, North Yorkshire.

He died on Friday.

"His record of gallant service in the Second World War will be etched in the annals of the regiment for all time," said regimental historian Harry Moses.

"He was with the 8th Battalion from 1938 right up to its demise in 1968, and then continued his long association as president of the Chester-le-Street Old Comrades' Association and as a member of the regimental trustees."

Maj English had two books published about the war and had just completed a third with Mr Moses about DLI PoWs before he died.

He leaves his wife, three children and two grandchildren.

In 2004, on the 60th anniversary of D-Day, he told The Northern Echo: "I really do believe that I had a guardian angel somewhere. There were two or three occasions when I could have been shot: when I was captured, I fired at them, but instead of shooting me on the spot they took me prisoner.

"Quite honestly, I don't think there was any skill about it. It happened as it happened."

His funeral will take place at 1pm on Friday at Preston-under-Scar church, near Leyburn.