A Selby man has been reunited with some of his shipmates from his days in the Royal Navy 60 years ago, following a report in The Press.

An article about Walter Burton’s diamond wedding caught the eye of John Peacock, of Wheldrake, who served with Walter during the Second World War.

Walter, John and another former shipmate, George Lumley, from Goole, have held a reunion at John’s home.

“I got quite a surprise after all these years when I got the call from John,” said Walter, a former Selby and Tadcaster police officer.

Walter, who lived in Goole, joined the Navy with George and met John, who then lived in Pontefract, when they served on HMS Indefatigable for three years seeing war action in Norway, the Atlantic and Japan.

They were in Tokyo when the armistice was signed and demobbed in 1946.

Back in civvy street Walter and John joined the police while George went back to sea with the Merchant Navy.

The three ex-servicemen, who are all 85, spent hours chatting about their experiences both at sea and the six decades since. John said: “It was good to see George and Walter again, we had so much to talk about.”