We met members of the South Shields and Jarrow branches of the Normandy Veterans' Association as they prepare to go back to pay their respects for what could be the last time.

Sitting among a phalanx of Second World War veterans, it's impossible to know what sorts of thoughts are going through their mind as they prepare to go back to Normandy.

Those of us of younger generations have seen documentaries and films about what happened on those blood-soaked beaches after June 6, 1944, but these men were actually there.

D-Day and the liberation of France by the allies that followed are not just events in a history book or documentary to them, but vivid and visceral memories that some, even now, find it hard to live with.

At the Alberta Club in Jarrow, veterans from the town's branch of the Normandy Veterans' Association (NVA) meet once a month to relive the camaraderie of their wartime days and plan trips such as the five-day pilgrimage to Normandy they have lined up to start on Thursday, June 4.

Joining them this year will be members of the NVA's South Shields branch, which meets at the town's Royal British Legion Club.

George Arkless, 84, from Gateshead, was in the Royal Marines, 45 Commando, on D-Day, landing at Sword Beach, about nine miles from the port of Caen.

He said: "I was 17 when I landed. There was plenty of action, and I was lucky to get ashore."

Injured on the third day of the campaign, he was sent back over the English Channel to recover in Scotland, and, after demobbing, decided to move down to London.

He came back to his native North East England 12 years ago.

When asked what it was like going back to Normandy, he said: "It brings back terrible memories of comrades who were lost from the Marines. That's the only thing I don't like."

Bill Hudson, from North Shields, was in the Royal Engineers' 49th Division and landed on Gold Beach on June 8.

"We were still getting fired on all along the beach, and we lost quite a lot of friends," said the 86-year-old.

"I was one of the lucky ones. There were still quite a few divisions of the German army there. They were firing on us from the hills above us."

Even though he has been back to the French battlefields a few times, he feels it is especially important to return this year.

Not only is this the 65th anniversary of the campaign, but it could also be the last time he makes the trip.

"It will be the last one, the 65th, because of our ages," he said.

That's a sobering sentiment shared by Randle Oliver, of Whitburn, who, at 83, still fulfils his role as chairman of a paint merchant's.

He said: "It's a tribute to those who did not come back. It's a great feeling to be going back, but this will be the last time."

Married for 58 years to Ethel, who was awarded a medal herself last year for her work in the wartime Women's Timber Corps, Randle was an RAF commanding officer, and he landed in Normandy on June 14.

"I did nothing special," he said. "It was the Typhoon pilots who were the real heroes."

"I was at the cathedral in Brussels after it was liberated by the Welsh Guards. It was a very special day."

On his lapel, Bob Douglas, 84, of Hebburn, wears a silver oak leaf, showing that he was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery.

A father of two, grandfather of four and great-grandfather of 13, he was in the Royal Scottish Fusiliers, 6th battalion, 215th Scottish division, and landed on Sword beach on June 15.

He said: "All we had to do was get off the boat straight into the fields, get down, and wait for orders. After that, we went to the front line at St Manvieu."

"We went from France to Belgium, Holland and Germany, ending up in Lubeck, where the Germans met the Russians."

As he was to find out, the entente cordiale between the allies of Britain, Russia and the US was destined to be an uneasy one.

"The Russians didn't shake hands with us as we went past the line that Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin had set," he said. "We then had to come back over it.

"I was one of the lucky ones. I was a major's driver in England, but they took us off and put us on the lines.

"My job on the front line was picking the wounded up and taking them to the hospital tents."

He went on to tell a story that has stayed with him for more than six decades.

"The man who replaced me as a driver was called John Douglas, and he got killed. That was fate. He's in Jerusalem cemetery, where we are going. I went to see him specially before."

"I think it's going to be the last time for everybody as the Normandy Veterans' Association is breaking up this year. We are all getting on in years."