MAYER Hersh's journey has been a particularly long and arduous one. At the age of 13 he was plucked from his home in Western Poland and taken to a slave labour camp by cattle truck.

Most of his family - except one brother - were obliterated in the Holocaust and somehow, young Mayer survived.

To his amazement Mayer, who lives in Whitefield, was liberated on the last day of the war, aged 18, and against all odds he had survived nine concentration camps in total - including Auschwitz.

Now aged 78, quietly-spoken Mr Hersh is to achieve yet another "miracle" by meeting HRH the Queen on Thursday for Holocaust Memorial Day.

He is due to attend a reception at St James' Palace along with around 260 other Holocaust survivors and soldiers who had helped in their liberation.

The event is all the more poignant as the date also marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Mr Hersh said: "It is a great honour and a tremendous privilege.

"After 60 years I am going to meet the Queen and I didn't think I would live until I was 16. It is a miracle."

Mr Hersh hopes to be reunited with some of the camp survivors he knew from his teenage years and he paid tribute to the soldiers who risked their lives to help free them.

He added: "They are great men who were prepared to give their lives to liberate us. We must not forget.

"It was not just German Nazis who were responsible for the killings. Other people in Europe were very willing and eager to take part.

"My brother Jacob, who also survived, returned to our home town in Poland, but there he received death threats. In the end he went back to Germany where he was safer than in Poland. Most ironic."

Sadly, Jacob died two years ago and for Mr Hersh it felt like he had lost his whole family once again.

He said he is very grateful to this country for giving him refuge and hospitality and hopes to convey those feelings to the Queen.

The last few weeks in the run up to Holocaust Memorial Day have been extremely busy for Mr Hersh.

He appeared on BBC's Heaven and Earth programme on Sunday and also attended an event at the Imperial War Museum in Salford.

Mr Hersh said: "It has been exhausting but I am pleased that people are interested.

"We must reflect and remember our families who are not here but also thank God and the British people and the Queen for giving us hospitality here when we needed it so badly.

"It has been very moving and emotional to be a part of these events and I expect I will feel both sad and happy throughout the day."