Amidst the 75th anniversary of VE Day commemorations, we remembered the uplifting story of Ralph Allgood, a Weymouth veteran who came face to face with a former enemy while on a camping holiday in Germany in 1986.

It was a surprise and a delight to hear from Mr Allgood, who is now 95, nearly 96.

He wanted to let us know how pleased he was to see the piece in the paper about his friendship with German soldier, Josef Weber.

During the Second World War the two men were wounded in the small Dutch town of Breedeweg just before a fierce battle wiped out all but two of Mr Allgood's section.

Both men had stood opposite each other on that day, perhaps face to face, and if they had not been injured they might well have shot at each other in the battle that followed.

Sadly Mr Allgood informed us that Mr Weber and his wife passed away around three years ago.

He said: "He and his wife became good friends of ours. We went to their home to stay with them three times.The first time we went to stay he said 'leave your car in the garage', we're going to take you out and who you everything.

"They came and visited us in Weymouth twice."

Mr Allgood also recalled how, during the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region of Belgium, he took refuge in a house where he was taken down to the cellar where there was a man, his wife and two children.

Years later, in 1977, Mr Allgood and his wife retraced his footsteps during the war and came across the same house where a woman answered the door who happened to be one of the children at the time. A friendship developed and Mr and Mrs Allgood returned to Belgium to see their friends there from the war.

Thanks to Mr Allgood for the update and for getting in touch about his tale of the enduring power of friendship emerging from a dark time.