A 96-YEAR-OLD war veteran who survived the sinking of a ship, which claimed more lives than the Titanic and Lusitania combined, has died.

In 2010, Herbert Brown, known affectionately as “Topper”, finally received a medal to commemorate the 1940 event.

It was labelled as the “secret disaster”, and was the worst maritime loss of the Second World War.

Mr Brown, who became a Major, died peacefully at a nursing home in Rochdale Road, Bury, last month. His funeral service took place at Accrington Crem-atorium.

Born in Glossop, he initially worked as a colourist at a textile printers. At the outbreak of World War Two, he served with the Signals before later becoming a regular soldier with the Lancashire Fusiliers.

He was with the British Expeditionary Force which fled from France in 1940 but later returned with the invasion in Normandy to oust the axis forces.

Mr Brown saw action in France, Italy, Syria and Egypt, where he served under Montgomery’s Eighth Army in the famous victory at El Alamein which became a significant turning point for the allies in the war. He survived the war relatively unscathed and put this down to “destiny and fate”.

An example of his good fortune was surviving the sinking of the former Cunard Liner Lancastria on June 17, 1940. The ship was ready to take troops and British personnel back to England when it was bombed just off the Brittany port of Saint-Nazaire and sank within 20 minutes.

The tragedy was kept secret by the British Government because of the impact it could have had on the country’s morale.

In 2010, a medal was struck to honour those who survived or were lost in the disaster. Mr Brown’s reaction upon receiving his medal was “It is remarkable to get a medal for being shipwrecked”.

After the war he served in the Lancashire Fusiliers Territorials and ended his army career as second-in-command of the Castle Armoury in Bury.

At the age of 80, he wrote and published his book entitled That Piece of Paper – Reminsciences of a Soldier in World War Two and continued to take part in the Gallipoli parades in Bury until his health suffered.

Mr Brown, whose medals and memorabilia are on display in the Fusilier Museum in Bury, had two children, a son and a late daughter.