D-Day veteran Francis (Frank) Farmer, a former president of the Bermuda War Veterans Association, has died at the age of 88.

Mr Farmer joined the Royal Navy at 17, signing on in 1943 and serving around the globe in the Second World War

He took part in 1944 Allied assault on Nazi-occupied Europe, as a stoker aboard the HMS Ulster — a destroyer that provided covering bombardment for the British and Canadian soldiers swarming ashore at Gold Beach, Normandy.

The vessel also served in the Allied campaign in the Pacific. Stationed in the engine room, Mr Farmer was vulnerable to torpedoes, telling The Royal Gazette in 2004: “We had other things to occupy our minds — you tried not to think about it.”

Two of his brothers were not so fortunate: Philip, 18, was killed in 1940 while serving in the British army in France, and Harry, 21, of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command, died over the North Sea the month before the war ended.

Originally from South London, Mr Farmer was so young that he needed his father’s permission to sign up, widow Pat Farmer recalled.

During the Pacific campaign with the Ulster, she said “the ship was bombed by a Japanese kamikaze — Frank was in the engine room and able to escape, but three of his mates were killed.

“He was still in the Pacific when Japan surrendered.”

Demobbed in 1947, Mr Farmer served in the UK’s Palestinian Police during the postwar tumult between British peacekeepers, Jewish refugees determined to settle in Israel, and Palestinians.

He later moved to the prison service in Canada before coming to Bermuda in 1952 as a police dog handler.

A year later, he met the fellow Londoner who, in 1954, became his wife.

“Frank was a very gentle person — we had two daughters, Penny and Sharon, and if they needed discipline as children he would never lay a finger on them,” Mrs Farmer recalled.

“We had a very happy marriage. We were very busy, working all our years. Then, when we retired, we seemed to get even closer.”

Mr Farmer worked in various businesses before settling at Masters for about 30 years, but was best known for his dedication to veterans.

He served on the board of the Mariners Club and was a long-standing president of the War Veterans Association.

Successor Jack Lightbourn described his former colleague as “a good fellow — I got along very well with him.

“He didn’t talk much about his war experience, and even though I spent a lot of time with him, we never did discuss an awful amount of what we did.

“He was active and saw quite a bit of the world. Of course he was very active with the veterans, and when they had their club, that was how he got his first real start.”

Mr Farmer, who died on Sunday, will be laid to rest at St John’s Church in Pembroke this Saturday at 10am.