They will pay their respects to Britain's war dead.

Among them will be Second World War hero Ron Payne.

He played a part in one of the war's defining moments – D-Day.

Reporter MARK PAYNE met him as he talked about the importance of Remembrance Day.

THE crossing from Southampton to France in the early hours of June 6, 1944 was a rough one.

But Hartlepool-born Ron Payne was used to it.

He was surprised to find himself taking part in what would be the turning point of the war at all.

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The tank fitter had spent most of the last two years training the Royal Engineers how to drive and maintain tanks.

But Ron, now 86, impressed top brass enough that he was reassigned and selected by the squadron's commanding officer to drive him onto the beach battlefield.

He was a member of the 82nd Armoured Engineer Squadron of the Royal Engineers 79th Armoured Division.

"I could do anything with a Churchill tank," said Ron. "I could stand it on its nose. I had gone to simply train the engineers how to drive and maintain the tanks but the higher powers had other ideas."

"I was scared stiff. Anybody who says they weren't was a liar. When I got the order to move out on to the beach my whole body was shaking but the adrenaline cut in and you just did it."

As well as risking his own life, it also meant leaving his new wife Florence who he had married less than a month earlier.

The couple met while he was stationed near her home of Butley in Suffolk and they were married in May 1944.

Back on Gold beach, the tanks were among the first thrown into the action.

"We had a good landing in about four feet of water. I was looking through the armoured glass and I could see right up the beach and the sand dunes.

"I thought 'great, I can get on them without any trouble' and I was off like the clappers.

"We were among the first on the beach. Our main job was to destroy the German pillboxes and make the way clear for the ground troops, and we did. We smashed all of them."

But Ron's determination was halted about half way up the beach when his wireless operator gave him the bad news that their commanding officer, Major Elphinstone, had been shot dead by a German sniper.

Ironically, he had broken his own cardinal rule, issued only hours earlier to other tank troops, not to open their hatches.

Ron and his crew had to lift him out and laid him on the beach when suddenly "all hell broke lose" and they were pinned down for about half an hour unable to move.

One of the most horrifying images he remembers was seeing the bodies of soldiers lying motionless on the ground not knowing if they were alive or dead.

"It haunted me for months afterwards," said Ron. "I didn't know if they had been shot or were crouching down to miss the bullets. It is something I will never forget.

"I had to manoeuvre my tank around them so that I wouldn't hurt them if they were alive."

But the landings at Gold beach proved among the most successful. By midnight on D-Day almost 25,000 troops had landed and had forged six miles into occupied France.

He later drove other heavy vehicles transporting French Canadian troops to the battlefront and bring German prisoners of war back.

About a week after D-Day Ron was reassigned back to fitter, making sure the tanks kept rolling through France, Belgium and eventually into Germany.

Ron remained in Europe until peace was declared in May 1945, when the tanks had reached Hamburg.

He returned home to Hartlepool and his wife and spent the rest of his working life as a lorry driver and mechanic.

The couple went on to have a son and daughter, three grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Ron returned to Normandy four years ago for the 60th anniversary commemorations of D-Day, attended by the Queen and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The moving occasion helped him to speak openly about his part in that momentous day, something he had kept private for along time.

"For years and years afterwards I never talked about D-Day but that did help me to open up.

"This time of year brings it all back to you and also when June 6 comes around I often think about it."

Ron, who lives with Florence, now 84, off Elizabeth Way, Seaton Carew, added: "Remembrance is very important, we lost a lot of men in the war.

"My wife and usually observe the two minutes silence quietly by ourselves at home."

However, this year they were due to attend Hartlepool's commemorations at the town cenotaph where great-grandson Adam, a marine cadet, was due to play his part.