THIS is the heartwarming moment a Prestwich paratrooper helped a war veteran to his feet so he could pay his respects on Remembrance Sunday.

Kieran Mcgurk, who lives in Gardner Road, was visiting the war memorial, in Manchester city centre, with fellow paratrooper John Price, when the footage was captured on Sunday morning.

The clip, which has been viewed more than seven million times on Facebook, shows the pair walking to the war memorial carrying a wreath.

The Bolton News:

As they approach, they come across veteran Ray Shuck, from Bolton, who was sitting in his wheelchair, surrounded by family members.

A family member can be heard asking the former paratrooper if he wants to stand up to pay his respects.

At this point, Mr Mcgurk and Mr Price step in and asked his family if they can help him to his feet.

The heartwarming footage then shows them help him up, before Mr Shuck salutes the war memorial, saying "god bless you".

As dozens of those around them applaud, the men then help the veteran back into his chair before shaking hands and posing for pictures together.

Mr Mcgurk, who runs Stand 2 Fitness, a fitness bootcamp based in Clifton Road, says he cannot believe the social media reaction to the video.

He added: "It is unbelievable how it has taken off. The reaction has been crazy.

"We were just going to lay our own wreath when we saw him struggling and thought we would help him."

When asked why he thought the video had captured the imagination of the public, he said: "It is all about Ray. It is just so inspirational.

"We did not know until after, but ten minutes before the video was taken, he was in the back of an ambulance because he was not feeling too great.

"They let him out so he could lay his wreath.

"It is such an old school mentality, this 95-year-old guy, who is struggling to stand up, but he manages to do it to pay his respects.

"He was an amazing guy, and he still had his sense of humour as well.

"We managed to have a chat with him and he was singing songs and asking us if we knew them."

It has since been revealed that, during the Second World War, Mr Shuck was one of the first British Army soldiers to be dropped into Normandy on D-Day, and was later shot in the head by a German sniper.