A heroic veteran who narrowly avoided death at Dunkirk has died from Covid at the age of 102.

Jim Pass, a dispatch rider in the Royal Army Service Corps, played a vital role in the early stages of the war by delivering messages between military lines.

In 1940, he spent a week on the beaches of Dunkirk before boarding a paddle steamer which was then struck by a bomb.

Hundreds died in the attack, but Jim was rescued by a naval destroyer having managed to escape the wreckage.

Jim's step-daughter, Kerensa Welsby, said that the family have been inundated with tributes to Jim, who was awarded France's top military honour, the Legion d'honneur, for his part in liberating the country, The Mirror reports.

During the dramatic retreat to Dunkirk Jim was part of an ammunition convoy heading to the beaches which got strafed by German planes.

This attack left Jim on his own and needing to continue his journey to the beach solo.

Kerensa said: "He came across an abandoned village where he was lucky enough to find a tin of sausages.

"He scoffed the lot, only to be violently sick as the food was too rich for his starved stomach."

Jim, originally from Castleford in West Yorkshire, had originally applied to become an RAF fighter pilot, but he was rejected and so was instead trained by the Army to fly Horse gliders - which carried troops.

Jim played a vital role in the D-Day landings of 1944

On D-Day in 1944 Jim drove a DUKW amphibious vehicle bringing ammunition onshore to Sword Beach.

After the landings he was tasked with landing his glider in Holland and fought with his comrades across to Germany, passing by the recently-liberated Belsen concentration camp where thousands of people had been kept in terrible conditions.

Kerensa fondly recalled the many colourful war stories that Jim would tell, which included him selling his cigarette rations to other soldiers as he was not a smoker himself.

She said: "You got paid but he never touched his money. He came out of the war in credit but they lost the records so while other soldiers had their debts wiped out, he had actually been in credit."

Upon his return to Britain, Jim married his girlfriend Molly Dunn and took over his fathers newsagent shop.

However, much of his later years were spent involving himself in the Camping and Caravanning Club, of which he had been a member for more than 50 years.

Jim even held a series of regional and national leadership roles in the Club throughout the years.

Following Molly's death in the 1980s, Jim went on to marry Rita, herself a member of the club and a widow.

The pair travelled far and wide across Europe, with Italy a particular favourite, and they went everywhere from Turkey to the Arctic Circle.

Kerensa said that Jim, who had Alzheimer's disease, had moved into a Sheffield care home in July following a fall at his home.

She said that it had been a difficult few months for the family as Jim was unable to have visitors, which even included his wife Rita.

"The last time my mum gave him a hug was when he went into the care home in July. He couldn't quite understand why she wouldn't go into the home", Kerensa said.

She added: "It has been quite a traumatic period. But there are blessings. He was 102 and actually died quite peacefully.

"He didn't suffer which he could have done with Covid and he lived an amazing life."