"A D-day veteran who miraculously escaped death at Dunkirk and was awarded France's top military honour has died from coronavirus in a care home at the age of 102 - after not being able to hug his family for months. Jim Pass, originally from Castleford, West Yorkshire, moved into a care home in July following a fall at home. The war hero was a dispatch rider in the Royal Army Service Corps in the early stages of the conflict, delivering messages between military lines. In 1940 he spent seven days on the beaches of Dunkirk before finally getting onboard a paddle steamer - which was then struck by a bomb. Hundreds below decks died but Jim was lucky enough to escape the wreckage and be rescued by a naval destroyer. On D-Day he drove an amphibious vehicle carrying ammunition to Sword Beach, where 30,000 Allied troops made it ashore and nearly 700 British soldiers died. Following the war Jim worked as a newsagent and had a family with Rita, who is still alive. " D-Day veteran, 102, dies from Covid in care home after not being able to hug his family since July | Daily Mail Online