My next-door neighbour Jack Harland died peacefully in hospital on Thursday 4th September aged 83. He was an amazing character and hugely admired by his neighbours and, really, anyone with whom he came into contact.

Jack came from a military family and served initially as a boy with the Scottish Borderers and then with the Royal Engineers. He was still a teenager, 'celebrating' his birthday while crossing the Channel for the Normandy D-Day Landings, not knowing whether he or his comrades would survive. Many didn't when they landed the next day. Engineers were often the first to land to make the way for heavier infantry.

Jack's independence of mind and fairness of spirit is characterised at the end of WWII when he married Annelise, a German lady and came back to York to set up home with her. Jack remained in the forces as a British soldier, working in the Far East, and was decorated for the campaigns that he fought and service he had given.

He spoke fluent German and French and when he travelled to Germany, France and The Netherlands, organising visits for the veterans' association, they were hailed as heroes and liberators by the local people they met, and honoured many times in civic receptions and formal ceremonies.

Christine and I moved next door to Jack and Annelise in 1995. After his wife died, Jack had no family in the UK but due to his engaging character he became 'adopted' by most of his neighbours in the street. The associated photo shows how neighbours decorated Jack's house and garden while he attended a commemorative event in Normandy for the 50th anniversary of the landings.

Jack was a war veteran and a career soldier but was very independently minded with a strong sense of what was right and wrong. I take a strong anti-war line and have a distrust of the military machine. It is notable, therefore, that we never disagreed about these matters. Perhaps if one has been through such unimaginable war scenes, witnessed your friends die around you, and the horror of what both sides inflict upon each other, then there can be no-one who is more anti-war than a veteran soldier himself.

I remember when Chris and I went on the massive anti-war march in London five years ago, she told him, in some trepidation, that we were going to go. However, he was totally in favour of us going on the march and said, 'Good on you, pet. It's an unjust war.' I feel proud to have known Jack. He contributed so much for his country, he told us of so many friends killed in the war, and yet he maintained a wicked and infectious sense of humour. He will be greatly missed.