A HEREFORD D-Day veteran who has forged close links with a Normandy primary school was frustrated when he was sent first-hand accounts of the liberation of Caen in June 1944 - because he doesn't speak French.

Happily for Lionel Roebuck, of Hillary Drive, he can now read the moving accounts of those desperate times thanks to a little help from Ann Wood and Margaret Goode, from Eardisley French conversation group.

The pair were asked by their French tutor if they would be interested in translating the documents, and undertook the task with enthusiasm.

One of the accounts they translated was written by Madame Marcelle Caby, whose husband was a member of the Resistance.

Both were imprisoned in March 1944 and she saw him just once more at the end of May, when she was released.

"He said to me, 'I know I leave this week. I will be deported where I will be shot.'. He gave me his wedding ring and I went home."

Ann and Margaret were especially moved by Madame Caby's account.

"It's written so simply, without being over-dramatised," said Ann. "She just relates what happened."