Royal Marine gets worthy send off

WATCH: Service turns out for Dougie Tune

Former Royal Marines in Devon have come together to pay their respects to a colleague none of them knew.

By the time Dougie Tune passed away at the age of 97 recently, his only blood family was his niece. Along with his two friends and carers, it looked like his funeral service would be sparsely attended.

But when a message was posted on a social media channel, many in the Royal Marines' family put on their uniforms and headed to the crematorium 

Mr Tune, originally from Scunthorpe, served with the Royal Marines at the D-Day landings in 1944. He survived that decisive battle and later celebrated the end of the Second World War at the memorial in Exmouth's Strand, where he met his future wife Betty.

Jeff Trail, a former Royal Marine and former Exmouth mayor said he was not surprised by the turnout at Exeter Crematorium to say goodbye to Mr Tune on Monday. 

Brigadier Paul Denning, a trustee of the Royal Marines Charity, said: "There is no such thing as a Royal Marine without a family" and the Royal Marines "are a very close-knit family".

He added: "We just thought it was very important one of our brothers who had served his country had people to say goodbye to him when he went.

"Any British serviceman would quite rightly have people from his regiment or service come up to say goodbye. But doing it with flags, military style and tradition is very much a fitting way to do it."

Natalie Frayne and Michael Gibbons, Mr Tune's friends and carers said they were "over the moon" with the response to their Facebook post last week.  "He was a very private person, but he was just Dougie; happy-go-lucky, he was great," said Ms Frayne.

This video report is from BBC Spotlight.