FRED Burton retains vivid memories of the horrors he witnessed, and his brushes with death as a soldier in Italy during one of the Second World War's bloodiest campaigns.

And in October he will for the first time return to the scene of some of them, visiting Monte Cassino, near Rome, on a trip funded by the Big Lottery's Heroes Return 2 programme, which enables veterans to visit battlefields and cemeteries across Europe.

Mr Burton, 87, from Newport, will commemorate fallen comrades on a trip funded by a £2,200 grant.

Called up to the Welsh Guards (1st Company, 3rd Battalion) at 19, he met future wife Beryl two days before sailing for Italy. He did not see her again for three-and-a-half years.

From March 1943-May 1945, he was part of an Allied campaign that fought its way through Italy, despite ruthless, determined opposition.

Death was a constant companion, survival often down to luck. During winter 1944-45 Mr Burton was a runner, passing messages back and forth across no man's land. On one occasion he tossed a coin with a fellow runner to see who would first accompany the major in command.

Mr Burton won. Later that day his colleague was shot and killed, and the officer had a leg blown off. Mr Burton accompanied two stretcher bearers in the difficult task of bringing them back.

"I'm only here today because of a coin toss," he said.

"It broke my heart. I'll sit in my chair sometimes and think about it."

EARLIER in the Italian campaign, Mr Burton was involved in the gruelling Monte Cassino campaign, where the Allies faced months of hardship trying to break German lines and seize Rome. His experiences include weeks of being unable to work in the open, in daylight, or to remove fellow soldiers' bodies due to the constant sniper threat in the mountains.

He does not know what to expect on his return, but hopes to go visit the now-restored Monte Cassino Abbey, flattened by Allied bombing, to pinpoint where his dugout was below.

"I know the spot, I've never forgotten it," said Mr Burton.