IT was a spontaneous and unexpected gesture. A young Dutch woman and her boyfriend spotted the two Normandy veterans sitting in the shade away from the heat of the day.

Almost embarrassed, she cautiously approached them, intrigued by the row of medals they proudly wore and which glinted on their chests.

After a few moments conversation, she suddenly lost her inhibition and flung her arms around each in turn, declaring: "Thank you, thank you so much for freeing my country.''

Her boyfriend then earnestly shook both men's hand and with a friendly wave, the strangers walked off to make their own private tribute to the fallen.

It was a most extraordinary postscript to the ex-servicemen's visit to Bayeux War Cemetery.

"Just close your eyes and imagine they are all young lads standing up,'' Jim Bellows said of the pristine headstones in the silent city.

He and George Scriven were not ashamed to show their feelings, wiping away tears, as they slowly made their way through rows of the immaculately-kept graves where young men and comrades will never grow old.

They had fought with the King's Regiment, the East Yorkshire Regiment, the Royal Engineers, the little known Inns of Court Regiment, to name but a few.

And of course, there were the final resting places of soldiers from the Hampshire Regiment.

So many who gave their lives almost on the threshold of manhood - some just 18, others 19 and more only 20 when the light was snatched from their eyes.

HAMPSHIRE AT WAR: THROUGH THE EYES OF THE ECHO - A 132 GLOSSY BOOK PUBLISHED BY THE SOUTHERN DAILY ECHO IS AVAILABLE PRICED £7.50 FROM LOCAL NEWSAGENTS, BY TELEPHONING 023 8042 4722.