Keighley war hero Fred Bramley has been laid to rest with military honours in Chepstow.

At the service Fred's coffin, draped in the Union Jack, was carried by military pallbearers, while a lone bugler played the Last Post.

An army chaplain told the packed congregation that Fred, who died from a heart attack in Minorca last month, aged 79, was a hero who had fought in three wars.

Fred's brothers Billy and Tommy Lyness had travelled from Keighley to Wales to pay their last respects to their older brother.

But while Billy knew something of his brother's illustrious career, for Thomas the scene at the church came as a complete shock.

Although he knew that Fred had been in the army, he was completely unaware of his courageous exploits on the battlefield, including being shot down over Arnhem, swimming across the Rhine to escape the Germans and serving in wars in both Palestine and the Falklands.

Tommy said: "It was unbelievable. The church was packed. There were about 150 people present. We were amazed.

Billy, 72, added: "I was in the services too, so Fred and I had talked about it. I knew a few of the tales but there were a few surprises."

The brothers' amazement grew even further as the army chaplain began to tell the tale of his life.

Thomas said: "I was in shock. I said to my brother, 'have you heard about this?' He said he had heard bits but that's all.

"He just didn't talk about it, he was the sort of person that wouldn't want to boast about what he did."

Frederick Watson Bramley was born in 1922 in Nottingham, but was brought up with his stepbrothers Tommy and Billy in Keighley.

When war broke out, Bram (as he was known to most of his family) joined up in Skipton, having to lie about his age.

He served in the Duke of Wellingtons and the Welsh Guards before volunteering to become a paratrooper.

In September 1944 he took part in Operation Market Garden, the disastrous attempt by thirty thousand British and American airborne troops to capture eight bridges on the Dutch/German border

His plane was hit over Arnhem and caught fire. Bram had to jump into enemy territory and swim across the Rhine to escape the Germans.

He was sheltered by a Dutch family and eventually repatriated by the Resistance.

In the year after the end of the Second World War, Bram did 12 months service in Palestine, then joined the Merchant Navy, which was to become a lifetime career.

Then in 1982, war broke out in the Falkland Islands and, at the age of 59, Bram volunteered again, this time, serving with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary on the Tide Spring, transporting troops from Ascension Island into the war zone.

After the Falklands campaign he returned to Chepstow, where he had moved when he had met and married his wife, Joan, while serving in the Welsh Guards at the start of his career.

Bram's daughter Rhona Lewis paid tribute to her brave father, saying: "I'm immensely proud of him, they don't come like that very often. He even volunteered for the Gulf War but was turned down because of his age. I don't think he ever forgave the authorities for that. He always wanted to fight for his country. He was a very, very brave man."