Donald Trump's D-Day visit could stop 98-year-old Littlehampton veteran from seeing ceremony

The 45th President of the United States of America is due to be in Portsmouth on June 5 for the D-Day 75 commemorations, leading to extra-tight security across the city.

Stanley Northeast, 98, from Beaconsfield Road, Wick, had been looking forward to the event for years - but due to the ceremony opposite Clarence Pier being cordoned off by a double-layered solid steel fence, he may not be able to see it.

His son Mike Northeast said he was 'very, very angry' when he first heard the news, and was working with the British Legion to make sure his father got an invite.

Even if he was invited, it would mean that Stanley and Mike would be split up from the rest of their family who wanted to mark the occasion with them.

Mike said: "It is a great shame. It is something we have been looking forward to all year. Dad is 98, so the things we do with him are very important.

"Now we are going to be split up."

Stanley joined the Royal Air Force and trained as an electrician after receiving his call up papers, and took part in the D-Day landings.

Speaking at the time of getting his Legion d’Honneur medal in 2016, he said: “Bullets were flying everywhere, and two of my comrades got shot down. The sea was red with blood; not blue, not green. Once we got on the beach, we had to keep moving. It was a horrible sight, so many dead bodies everywhere. I wouldn’t wish anybody to see anything like it again.”

The controversial president's visit has already sparked talk of protests across the country.

Mike said: "I have sympathy with the protesters, but on such an occasion as this it is taking the focus away from what we are really doing: saying thank you to these few guys and ladies that are left, who went into the unknown across that channel.

"They should be the centre of everything, not the President of the United States. He has years ahead of him when he can visit; let them have their day."