As serving and former members of the Armed Forces united with the wider community to pay their respects on Remembrance Day, Alan Gotts was wearing a medal very few others had.
For Mr Gotts, 80 and from Fakenham, has been awarded the Nuclear Test Medal, for his small role in the RAF in the early years of the atomic age.
Mr Gotts joined the RAF at 15 as a chef, and just two years later witnessed nuclear weapons tests off the coast of Christmas Island - an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean - in 1962.
He said: “At 3am the bombs would be tested. You’d have to have your bag packed, overalls and gas mask on, ready to make it to the jetty if the winds changed.
“We were given goggles to protect our eyes, and before the bomb went off we were told to sit with our back to the detonation."
Britain's nuclear testing programme in the area of Christmas Island was called Operation Grapple, but Mr Gotts was there during tests run by the Americans, called Operation Dominic.
The American nuclear tests took place near Christmas Island, Johnstone Island and at locations in the Pacific.
The UK operation to support the Christmas Island tests - which involved about 300 British service personnel - was codenamed Operation Brigadoon.
Mr Gotts said: “The heat and the noise created was incredible.
"The scenes of the bombs going off are still etched into my brain, I can still see it when I close my eyes.”
He said he saw people wearing only shorts and flip-flops washing down planes which had just carried nuclear weapons.
“People didn't know what they were dealing with,” he said.
Mr Gotts also has memories of the journey to Christmas Island along with other 17 and 18-year-old servicepeople.
They were first flown to California, where they visited Disneyland, and then to Honolulu on Hawaii.
Mr Gotts said he thought these fun excursions were a “softener” for the horrors ahead - which proved too much for some.
He said: “We got on a plane at Heathrow, and everyone was around my age, 17 and 18 years old, and we all had no idea where we were going.
“We were only told what we were doing once we arrived there, all of us were marched up to the football pitch and had a briefing.”
Mr Gotts said communication over the bombs was very limited, only finding out about the tests the day before.
He said: “People would wake up screaming - some had to go home, others never made it home, but we vowed to always be there for one another."
After Mr Gotts returned to the UK in 1963 had to visit Ely Hospital every month to be tested for radiation for six months.
He went on to a successful career as a chef, and even cooked for members of the Royal Family.
But he said he would never be able to forget witnessing the immense destructive power of nuclear weapons.
Mr Gotts said: “You cannot shake it off your mind, something will come up on the TV or online and your mind goes back to the island, and the friends who did not come home.
He said: “I remember feeling so worried and concerned at the time.
"I thought why are we testing nuclear bombs? We’ve seen the devastation they have caused, three would wipe us off the map.
“After witnessing the test, you do not want to imagine what the reality would be if they were dropped on us.”
Last year the Nuclear Test Medal was released after a long-fought campaign.
Mr Gotts said it was “brilliant to wear it” on Remembrance Day, and he said he felt emotional talking about his experience to people on the day.
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