A retired miner is believed to have become the oldest soldier to have died from a Second World War injury.

For nearly 64 years Leslie Croft, 86, lived a healthy life after surviving the shrapnel wound that cut short his service during the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943.

But the shell fragment caused a twisting of the small bowel. Scar tissue on the operation that followed led to the loss of vital blood supplies and eventually to the broncho-pneumonia that killed him, a coroner decided.

Mr Croft was a 19-year-old miner when war was declared. He enlisted with the 6th Battalion of The York and Lancaster Regiment.

After heavy fighting in France in 1940, the battalion became part of the First Army in Tunisia and, from 1943 until the end of the war, fought as part of the Eighth Army in Italy from Salerno to Rimini.

The young corporal was hit in the stomach by a shell blast in 1943 and underwent emergency surgery in a field hospital before being shipped home for further treatment.

His injuries were so severe that he never returned to active service.

He spent the next three years as a sergeant working with prisoners of war in the North East before marrying and returning to his home town of Rotherham.

In a narrative verdict at the end of the inquest, Stanley Hooper, the Rotherham Coroner, said: “I rather suspect that Leslie Croft will be one of the last men to die of a wound suffered in World War Two.

“Mr Croft died from broncho-pneumonia consequent on a war wound which he suffered when fighting in World War Two in Italy in 1943.

“He had undoubtedly made what appeared to be a miraculous recovery because he went on to work in the coalmines and he must have enjoyed quite a long period of retirement.”

Terry Marshall, a pathologist, told the coroner: “Bizarre as it seems, it is undoubtedly because of the shrapnel wound sustained 64 years earlier that he died. At some time after he was admitted to hospital he was diagnosed with an obstructed bowel and even carcinoma but it was clear from my investigation that neither was present.

“Following a discussion with a surgeon who had treated Mr Croft before his death, I became aware of the injury he sustained during the war.”

Scar tissue surrounding adhesions made to Mr Croft’s bowel during the operation to save his life had caused a lump to form and cut off a vital blood supply which led to bronchopneumonia and his death, Dr Marshall added.

Mr Croft lived at a nursing home in Rotherham with his wife, Mary, 84, for 18 months before his death on New Year’s Eve. He had been admitted to Rotherham General Hospital with stomach pains shortly after Christmas.

After the hearing his elder son, Leslie Croft, 60, a lorry driver, said: “As children we were fascinated by Dad’s wound. It was a vertical scar that stretched from his breastbone to his stomach.

“We asked him how it happened and he told us it was a war wound but he never went into detail. But he did show us his campaign medals.

“He was patched up in a field hospital before being shipped home and the surgeons must have done an excellent job because he lived for another 64 years.

“He hardly suffered a day’s illness and he was a very fit and active man all his life. It was a surprise to us that it was the shrapnel that killed him.”

Mr Croft’s younger son, Steven, 52, said: “He was proud to have served his country and we are still very proud of him now.

“He was a quiet man and he would only talk about the war if he was asked.

“Dad must have suffered a lot of pain when he was injured all those years ago but he has lived a full life and I suppose you could say that he has had a good innings.

“As the coroner said, he must be the last person to die from an injury sustained in the Second World War.

“I suppose, in a way, it is a great tribute to him and one I am sure he would be really proud of.”

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