TRIBUTES have been paid to a war veteran who passed away peacefully on Christmas Day.

Eric McDermott, 93, was last year made a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur for services to France after D-Day and his help to liberate Europe.

In an interview, he told the Gazette how he was one of the few to leave the war with positive memories especially as it led him to meet the great love of his life, his wife of 69 years, Eve.

Mr McDermott, of North Mill Place, Halstead, died in hospital early on Christmas morning after a courageous fight against a number of illnesses.

But according to his family, his sense of humour never deserted him and on his last day he was still flirting with nurses.

This was the charm and charisma which helped him pursue a career as a musician after the war which lasted well into his 80s.

Hugely talented as both a drummer and keyboard player, Mr McDermott played with many of the great Big Bands of the 50s and 60s, had film credits to his name and appeared in an early episode of the hit show The Saint.

He was resident with his own group at some of London’s most famous nightclubs where he rubbed shoulders with royalty and many celebrities of the day - both famous and infamous.

Mr McDermott’s son, Mike, said of his father: “Dad loved a joke and talking to people was one of the great pleasures in his life – he’d talk to anyone.”

Mike went on to praise the care his father had received while in Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford over several weeks, and also for his mother Eve, who joined Mr McDermott in a neighbouring bed after a fall.

He added: “The staff were highly professional, from accident and emergencies all the way through to the social services and family support teams.

“The nurses were overwhelmingly kind, effective and compassionate, and really made a huge difference to us as well as my parents.

“In these days of bad news about the NHS, we have nothing but good things to say.”

Mr McDermott’s funeral is set to take place on January 27 at the Three Counties Crematorium in Braintree.

The service is for family only but donations can be made to Cancer Research UK in his name.