A WAR hero who fought in the D-Day landings was targeted by masked robbers who held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him.

Percy Darlington, aged 89, had returned home after visiting his wife’s grave and was sitting in his living room when he was grabbed by the neck from behind and a knife was held to his throat.

Mr Darlington, of Manchester Road, Kearsley, said: “I could only see his eyes and mouth — he had a knife and he was pointing it at my throat.

“He just kept saying, ‘where’s the money, where’s the money’, and he would jab the knife at my throat each time.”

The terrifying incident happened just after 7pm on Tuesday. Police believe the two men may have entered the house through an unlocked door.

As Mr Darlington, a former Desert Rat in the Seventh Armoured Division, was held at knifepoint by one of the raiders, the second ransacked his home looking for cash.

He said: “I thought about putting up a fight, but I would not have stood a chance. I’m 5ft 3in and he was bigger, and he had this knife in his hand.”

One of the thugs dragged Mr Darlington over to a bookcase and he gave them an envelope containing £200.

He said: “I thought that if I gave it to them they would leave me alone.”

However, the robbers showed no sign of fleeing, so Mr Darlington pretended to faint.

The two men grabbed him again, sat him in a chair and put the knife to his throat once more, demanding more money.

“He just said, ‘give me the money or you will get this’. It was frightening — he was crazed,” Mr Darlington said.

Mr Darlington, who was the victim of a burglary in February, told the raiders he had no money left.

But this made the men angry and one said they would shut the curtains so nobody could see what they were going to do to him.

Mr Darlington was held captive for about 15 minutes.

The men fled out of the back door.

The pensioner is a distinguished veteran who served during the Second World War in the Normandy invasion and The Battle of El Alamein, in the deserts of North Africa.

He also has campaign medals for service in Egypt and Italy and worked as a plumber after the war.

The robbers were white and aged 25 to 35. One of the men was wearing a light grey top.