Hundreds of mourners have gathered to pay their final respects to one of the last remaining Royal Marine veterans of the Second World War.
The funeral of Jim Wren, the 105-year-old national hero who died earlier this year, drew a massive turnout of grievers to the streets of Salisbury in honour of his lifetime of service.
The ceremony was attended by family, friends and well-wishers and his coffin was draped in a Royal Marine Corps Flag as it was carried into St Thomas’s Church by servicemen to complete silence.
During the service, he was described by his family as a ‘passive man who would never get angry’ and who rarely spoke about his service, ‘only opening up in recent years’.
Mr. Wren, who the Japanese held during the war, joined the Royal Marines on his uncle’s advice after initial rejections from both the RAF and the British Army at age 19.
After completing his training, he was assigned to a First World War-era battle-cruiser, HMS Repulse, which was involved in the hunt for the Bismarck.
Deployed to the Far East in a bid to deter Japanese aggression in the Pacific, just 80 minutes in battle Mr Wren and his shipmates were caught by enemy bombers in the South China Sea on December 10 1941.
James ‘Jim’ Wren picture with Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, in August last year
The 105-year-old national hero died earlier this year. Pictured at the Sarum Manor Care Home in 2025
The ceremony was attended by family, friends and well-wishers and his coffin was draped in a Royal Marine Corps Flag as it was carried into St Thomas’s Church by servicemen
Hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their final respects to James Wren, one of the last remaining Royal Marine veterans of the Second World War
Previously speaking to comrades in the Royal Marines Association, he recalled the moment the alarm sounded on the ship.
Mr Wren, who was originally from Sussex, said: ‘I dropped my tea and headed to my action station.
‘The noise was terrific, it was one big noisy battle. There was no panic though, we’d been through the routines so regularly that we just got on it. Everyone knew their role and we had such a good crew. We all had faith in each other.’
Two months later, he was captured by the Japanese as he attempted to escape from Singapore.
He spent the remainder of the conflict in prisoner-of-war camps where he endured harsh treatment until the news of Japan’s surrender in August 1945.
For three and a half gruelling years, Wren endured a landscape of starvation and disease, subjected to forced labour clearing dense jungles and constructing airstrips and railways.
While mortality rates in the camps soared, Wren and his unit maintained a strict code of brotherhood, sharing food and guarding the dignity of the dying.
Mr Wren was rejected by both the RAF and the British Army at the age of 19
Mourners lined a street in Salisbury at the funeral of Jim Wren, who died earlier this year
Jim with the Duchess of Edinburgh
He returned home weighing just six stone (38kg) and attributed his survival to the bond between his comrades.
He had met his wife Margaret just before deployment, and she waited for him throughout the war, without knowing if he was alive or dead.
A year after his return, they married and shared 74 years, a journey that only ended with her death in 2020.
The service ended to the sound of bugles as members of the Royal Marines and his family paid their final farewells.