Veteran left to die in hit and run

An 82-year-old war veteran who served as a personal aide to General Eisenhower was left to die after a hit-and-run accident.

Neighbours battled to help Doug True as he lay trapped under the car in Thornton Heath after the driver and three passengers ran off.

Mr True, who served in Gen Eisenhower's Normandy invasion staff in 1944, was eventually pulled from under the vehicle, but died soon after reaching hospital.

Police are searching for the four men in the car, all described as black or Asian and in their early twenties.

Mr True's family said the four were "callous beyond belief" to leave the King's Own Shropshire Light Infantry corporal to die in the road.

His son-in-law Gildo Zangirolami, 49, said: "He had been through so much in his life, yet it all goes in a split second."

Mr True's wife, Joyce, 79, to whom he had been married for 59 years, is said to be distraught.

Anyone with information should ring 020 8284 5988.