Major Jos Mark, Cumbria’s most-decorated war veteran, was sent on his final journey with a heartfelt round of applause.

Jos’s funeral service took place at St Cuthbert’s Church in Carlisle city centre yesterday afternoon. Afterwards his coffin, draped in the Union Flag, was fixed to a Jeep similar to those he drove during World War Two.

As it was driven away to Stanwix Cemetery the assembled crowd began to clap: a final thank you to a man who served his country and his county with quiet pride.

Jos died at Penrith Hospital last month, surrounded by his family. He was 95.

During World War Two he fought at Normandy and worked with survivors of the notorious German concentration camp at Belsen. One of them, Erica, became his wife.

Jos had chosen many of his funeral’s features, such as the bagpiper who played ahead of his coffin as it was carried from Blackfriars Gate to the church door.

Members of the Royal British Legion and ex-services’ members lined the path. Eight Gurkhas formed a guard of honour at the church door. After the war Jos served in Borneo as the transport officer for the Gurkha Brigade based there during the Malayan Emergency. He helped dozens of Gurkha families to settle in Carlisle.

His coffin was carried into the church by six members of the Royal British Legion, preceded by two poppy wreaths. Jos was honorary life president of the Carlisle and Stanwix Branch of the Royal British Legion and a strong supporter of the legion’s Poppy Appeal.

The church was packed. A few minutes before the service began at 1pm, the bell began to chime. “Not many people could get that done,” smiled one man, a former neighbour of Jos.

Rev Keith Teasdale spoke warmly of Jos, a man he knew well. “First and foremost, he was a family man. If the family were alright, he was alright.”

Margaret Wadsworth, a prime mover in Carlisle’s Poppy Appeal, spoke fondly of “an amazing gentleman. And a gentle man.”

Trinity School pupils sang The Seal Lullaby: a touching lament with words by Rudyard Kipling. Jos would regularly visit Trinity as part of his mission to educate young people about the horrors of war and the sacrifices made by their forefathers.

The service ended with a bugler playing a spine-tingling rendition of The Last Post.

The mourners filed back down the path and waited as Jos’s coffin was attached to the Jeep.

Its route to Stanwix was chosen to pass Carlisle Castle. Jos passed his army entrance exam there, near the beginning of a long and remarkable life.

n The News & Star attended the service with the permission of the Mark family.