Second World War RAF Veteran from Mundesley turns 100

Reginald Curtis, from Mundesley, was born in 1924 and owing to a photographic memory can remember much of his life vividly.

He partly attributes his longevity and quality of life to his countryside upbringing which offered "a good start". 

He recalls spending long evenings out as a child "often not having the time to eat" due to being "too busy climbing trees and swimming".

Aged just 14, Mr Curtis started his first job working for the postal service - but the role had a darker side.

The job involved delivering bad news to families whose loved ones had died in battle early in the war.

Reginald Curtis age 14 (Image: Sonya Duncan)

He remembers how "women would collapse on their doorsteps" upon hearing the terrible news. 

When he turned 18 Mr Curtis joined the RAF, serving as a gunner in the Lancaster Bomber crews that flew out of Kermington and Scampton air bases in Lincolnshire.

Two years later, he was struck down with mastoiditis - an infection of the bone behind the ear - but was still determined serve, so quit the RAF and joined the Navy instead.

"My parents were secretly pleased that I was grounded, I wasn’t. But when you look back, you have a different perspective on things."

Mr Curtis remembers having just sailed off the coast of Gibraltar with the Navy when the first atomic bomb went off.

"When the bombs dropped, we turned around and came home," he said.

After the war, Mr Curtis settled into civilian life and got a job working as an engineer.

"We didn’t want to talk about the war, we wanted to forget it - people didn’t understand that," he remembers. 

Soon he met the love of his life and future wife Liz: "I came into work to speak to my boss about changing my shifts and there was my future wife."

The couple travelled around Europe together on a motorcycle, before returning to England and settling down together in Peterborough.

Reginald and Liz on their motorcycle (Image: Sonya Duncan)

And once retired the couple decided leave Cambridgeshire and settle in their beloved North Norfolk where they had enjoyed plenty of holidays.

And, never one to turn down a challenge, Mr Curtis designed and built the house where he still lives in Mundesley.

Mrs Curtis sadly died earlier this year.

Despite his extraordinary memory, Mr Curtis added: "There’s a lot of things you don’t want to remember, I lost a lot of mates.

"But I also have some great memories too, I have lived a good life.

"You get given a pack of cards at the beginning of life and it depends upon how you play them."

Mr Curtis received his letter from the King earlier this week.