Peter Backhouse

His father had served during the First World War and he was determined to follow in his footsteps so, in May 1943 when only 16 years and 10 months old, he signed up to join the Royal Army Service Corps.

A year later, Private Backhouse was driving an ammunition truck on Juno beach two days after the D-Day landings in Normandy.

He was one of the lucky ones. On one occasion when his lorry, and one carrying bully beef, were dive bombed the drivers threw themselves under their vehicles. Private Backhouse survived, the other driver was killed.

Like so many of his generation who saw war service Mr Backhouse rarely spoke about it, but after attending a national Normandy veterans' meeting nearly 30 years ago, he was invited to form a Leeds branch and was its first chairman.

Mr Backhouse was born in Hull but moved to Leeds as an infant. By the time he left St Martin's School, in Woodhouse, Leeds, at 14 to become a painter and decorator the Second World War had already broken out.

After demobilisation, he returned to his trade but was forced to give up after suffering a back injury falling from scaffolding at the city's Odeon cinema.

He then studied at night school to qualify to train as a quantity surveyor going on to a long career with a number of civil engineering firms, including Kiers, Costains, Ogdens and Piggott Pile Drivers.

He worked on several major projects including the building of the M1 and M5 motorways and Ferrybridge Power Station.

Later, he returned to his original trade setting up his own decorating business and by the time he retired was teaching those skills for West Yorkshire County Council.

He met and married his wife Marjorie within six weeks in 1956, and they went on to have two children, Christopher and Pamela.

Mrs Backhouse died in 1990.

He is survived by his son and daughter, and three grandchildren.