A D-Day veteran who turned 20 the day before the Normandy landings has celebrated his 90th birthday surrounded by friends and family.

Frank Nottingham, formerly of Adelaide Street, York, cheated death during the fighting and says he has always wondered why he was spared.

Twenty of his colleagues were killed while the Royal Navy was supporting the troops landing on the Carentan Peninsula - including his best pal who fell right by his side during a German air attack.

Frank was a morse code operator in a wireless room on board a naval warship during the June 6 1944 landings.

He always wanted to join the Royal Navy from when war broke out but was told he had to wait until he was older.

He volunteered as soon as he was 18 and two years later spent his birthday sailing into action for Operation Neptune, the codename for the naval arm of Overlord.

He was unable to join his former colleagues at the 70th anniversary celebrations of D-Day taking place in France. But friends and family turned out in force to his party at Oak Haven Elderly Persons' Home.

He said: "My pals was right by me when he was killed and I always wondered why he was killed and I was not.

"They were all buried at sea but I was the one who had to tell his family."