A Royal Marine commando who survived bloody WWII battles in Italy has celebrated his 100th birthday.

Fred Ames had trained at Lympstone after joining the Royal Marines as an 18-year-old in 1942, and returned to live in East Devon after serving in the war.

During WWII he and his comrades were surrounded on three sides by lethal German Panzer divisions as the Allies invaded Italy at Anzio and moved up the Italian coast after months of fierce fighting.

Fred was a beach commando carrying out dangerous landings ahead of the main forces and later saw action in the south of France after D-Day.

He modestly said of his war service: "It was no different to anyone else, nothing too exciting. We boarded small motorboats for a night crossing to Palermo in Sicily where we joined forces with the American 5th Army.

 "We then moved on to mainland Italy where I fired my first shots in anger, or more likely fear, in the Battle of Anzio. The Germans soon brought in Panzers and other crack troops which made life more difficult."

During the Battle of Anzio 7,000 Allies were killed and 36,000 wounded or missing. 5,000 Germans were killed and 30,500 wounded, with 4,500 captured, before the Allies broke out and entered Rome.

Fred was in Naples Bay to see Vesuvius last erupt in March 1944; the top of the volcano blew off, throwing a huge cloud of ash several miles into the sky.

Before he was demobilised he worked as a military policeman, based at Yettington near Budleigh Salterton, which he described as ‘forced labour’. He then became a bus conductor and driver and hospital porter.

Exmouth Journal: Fred with his wife Marion in 1947, and, right, in Italy during WWII

The father of two, grandfather of four and great grandfather of three, met his late wife Marion in a forces club canteen in Exeter and they got married in 1947.

He said the secret of a long marriage was saying 'yes dear', adding:"You both say it, you must not submit all the time!"

Fred, who now lives in a care home, suffered a broken hip in a fall around a year ago and was operated on in hospital the next day.

He joked: "If you want a new hip, fall over. I still have a brain, can joke and you can replace knees and hips.

"But I'm feeling well. I'm fine and in no pain. I'm a survivor."