A GUARD of honour accompanied war hero and lifelong seafarer Cyril Bartlett as he made his final journey today in a Union Jack draped coffin.

Cyril died last month at the Great Western Hospital at the age of 96, with his beloved son David by his side.

He was a familiar face to budding seafarers as the founder of the Swindon Sea Cadets and a decorated war veteran who served in the Navy for eight years during the Second World War.

Friends, family members and veterans gathered at the Kingsdown Crematorium to remember kind and caring Cyril as pall bearers entered to Nelson’s Dirge by Thomas Attwood.

In a nod to Cyril’s Naval roots the service opened with the Naval hymn Eternal Father Strong to Save.

Standard bearers from the Royal British Legion Stratton St Margaret Branch along with TS Resolution Swindon Sea Cadets paid their respects to the veteran who had a ‘spiritual love’ of the Navy

The service, led by Reverend Trevor Day drew laughs from the congregation when he recounted Cyril’s amazing acting ability when he went for his Navy medical.

“He has always been short sighted and when he went for his medical, being an actor he memorised the eye chart and hid his glasses,” he said.

The poem ‘To My Father’ by Georgia Harkness moved many to tears with poignant lines such as: “To know this life was good. It left its mark on me. Its work stands fast and so it lives.”

A friend of Cyril’s said he was known for his kind and generous personality, particularly when training young Sea Cadets in Wroughton.

He said:“When he used to see homesick cadets he used to get them walking his dog. Rest in Peace Cyril.”

Mr Day also paid tribute to Cyril’s great loves, his family, wife Rosalind and son David, cats and dogs, and the Navy.

Cyril spent time aboard the HMS Vervain during the Second World War, which travelled deep into the Arctic Circle when he was barely out of his teens. He travelled the world with the Navy, visiting America, Jamaica, Asia and Russia.

He was awarded an Arctic Star Medal in 2014 for his work in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

In February last year he was honoured with the Russian Ushakov medal for his services delivering supplies to Soviet forces between 1941 and 1945.

David said he would forever treasure the memory of father and son watching Swindon Town beat Arsenal in the memorable 1969 League Cup Final.

When Cyril left the Navy in 1946 he worked in the railway and in quality assurance at Garrards in Newcastle Street. There he met wife Rosalind, and the couple were married for more than 50 years.

He was also awarded an MBE by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in 1979.

Edward Elgar’s Nimrod closed the service with family members queueing to say a fond farewell to the much-loved father.

The congregation then gathered at the Swindon Sea Cadet Unit, TS Resolution, Upham Road to share more memories of Cyril.