A 97-YEAR-OLD Second World War veteran featured in the BBC’s coverage of Remembrance Sunday.

George Foggo was a time-served joiner before going on to clear mines during the war.

Mr Foggo, of Dunbar, helped build sea defences around the town and many of the concrete blocks used can still be seen near Winterfield Golf Course.

He was then allowed to join up and was recruited into the Royal Engineers, serving as a bomb disposal expert.

In London, many anti-aircraft shells landed unexploded and Mr Foggo was involved in clearing these.

He was then sent to France to clear mines – a hazardous occupation, with many bomb disposal men killed.

On the BBC programme, Mr Foggo was seen talking to a young soldier who had been on duty in Afghanistan, also as a bomb disposal expert.

The two men – separated by 70 years – found they had much in common, especially in the danger they faced in clearing mines and bombs.

Earlier this month, Mr Foggo joined George Robertson, vice-chairman of the town’s community council, for a presentation to Dunbar and District History Society.

The talk, entitled ‘Dismantling the Nazi Supergun in the Second World War’, saw Mr Robertson firstly give an outline of Mr Foggo’s war service and then highlighted the role played by Mr Foggo in the final dismantling of the V3 ‘supergun’.

The V3 was the German army’s most powerful weapon and if it had been in operation it could have landed 7,000 bombs in one day on London.

Mr Robertson outlined the size of the V3 and its potential use, and how it was housed in a huge concrete bunker in the French town of Mimoyecques, near Calais.

The RAF managed to bomb the site and flood it, but the site could not be considered inactive before Mr Foggo and his bomb disposal team entered the bunker in dinghies – a very dangerous expedition.

Mr Foggo, in answering questions, gave details of this mission.

Giving the vote of thanks, Dr Jim Herring thanked the pair for a unique insight into bomb disposal in the Second World War and the dismantling of the V3.