War veteran carried mass of shrapnel in his leg for 68 years

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Whenever he travelled, airport scanners went haywire. And for war veteran Ronald Brown, who died at the age of 94, pain in his left leg would have served as a constant reminder of the day in 1944 he stepped on a land-mine. But even Brown's own family had no idea quite how much metal was lodged inside this grandfather's body.

It was a bullet, they thought. Enough to make him always shift his grand-kids onto the other knee. But when they asked to see what remained after Brown was cremated, they were given a bag full of a shocking amount of metal: wire, nails and cruel shards.

He carried it with him for 68 years.

Holly Madden, 25, one of Brown's five grand-daughters, was interviewed by the Daily Mail:

"The bits of metal in him just show how horrible the war was.

"I suppose it’s a bitter-sweet memory for us because it symbolises everything he did and how he suffered. It’s amazing that he walked around with it in his leg for so long.

"He walked normally. He was an active man too. He used to go on a daily walk."