A RETIRED mechanical fitter and grandfather spent a week living as a Second World War soldier to help commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem - one of the largest ever airbourne assaults.

Doug Traill, 65, of Stockton, is passionate about World War Two vehicles and was one of 350 people from the UK to travel to Holland to take part in last week's commemoration of the ill-fated Operation Market Garden.

A member of the Military Vehicle Trust and two smaller groups of enthusiasts who meet in Middleton-St-George, near Darlington, and Durham City, Mr Traill said there were 120 military vehicles involved in the UK convoy which headed to the former battle zone.

The men traced the route of the ground force of 30 (British) Corps who were tasked with fighting across occupied Holland to link up with the Airbourne divisions parachuted into the Arnhem area in September 1944 in a decisive bid to end the war early - portrayed in the film A Bridge Too Far.

However, the bold plan was eventually undone when the ground force was delayed and the airbourne forces encountered much stronger German resistance, leaving them to fight on without support before eventually withdrawing.

Mr Traill, who worked at the former ICI plant at Wilton, near Redcar before recently retiring, said the men wore period clothes and used only 1940s equipment for the entire week they spent moving through Holland.

"There were lads from Aberdeenshire, Dover, Hull and Harwich who went over with us from North Shields. They didn't need my Jeep so were were on an RAF lorry. We went through the villages and towns liberated by the real army and there were thousands of people out. The schools would close and there were flags out, everything.

"It was really something when we met older people who were there the first time, the real time. Of course they were just children then. There was only lady who came who had a photograph of herself on a Sherman tank when she was one year old."

Mr Traill bought his Jeep for £5,000 from a man in Norton15 years ago. It was used by the British Army from 1942 to 1958 before being bought by the old Redcar Corporation as a beach patrol vehicle.