A war veteran who suffered 48 injuries when he crossed enemy lines in an act of bravery during World War Two has celebrated his 100th birthday.

Cyril Richards said there was no secret to living for a century. “I’ve just lived an ordinary life,” he said.

Mr Richards lived alone until he was 95, before moving into the Thackley Grange home in Idle. Two years ago Bradford Council announced it was one of three homes to close and Mr Richards’ son Paul campaigned for it to stay open.

“The concern at the time was moving somebody at that age and how it could be disruptive for him. He wasn’t happy about moving,” Paul said.“But he got through the war and he got through that.”

Four years of Mr Richard’s life were far from ordinary as he spent that time recovering from machine gun wounds in a military hospital after he was attacked crossing enemy lines in France in 1941.

Mr Richards, of the Black Watch Regiment, was the last man to head back to safety when he was shot.

His son Paul, 67, said: “He went behind enemy lines to rescue somebody. They’d got them all out and he was the last one out carrying guns and the Germans went for him. Being the last one out he copped for it all. He was left for dead by the Germans.”

Mr Richards, who was born in Plymouth, suffered gun shot wounds to the chest wall, left leg, leg and foot, his thigh and abdomen.

“He had 48 wounds from machine gun fire – so how he got to 100 is a miracle really,” his son added.

Mr Richards was registered as 80 per cent disabled following the attack.

When he recovered he married Nellie King in the mid 1940s at St Francis Catholic Church. He lived in Greengates and Eccleshill and had Paul before he was widowed in 1969. He later married May who died in 1989.

He worked as an office worker for an engineering firm and a nurse at Thornton View for 30 years, until he retired aged 65.

Yesterday, Mr Richards celebrated with a red, white and blue party, drink of lager and chocolate cake at Howgate Nursing Home, in Idle, where he has lived for a year.

He said: “I’m having a great time. It’s such a big do and I’m enjoying it all.”