A Falklands veteran has died on Armistice Day while revisiting the island he fought to protect.

Shaun Tighe died suddenly on Monday, November 11, while visiting the Falkland Islands as a member of the South Atlantic Medal Association.

The former marine, known to many as Tiggy, was on a week-long trip and had returned a number of times to the islands since the conflict in 1982.

The 60-year-old from Bittern Way, Letchworth GC, had taken part in the Remembrance Sunday parade with other veterans and spent Monday laying wreaths at some of the memorials in Port Stanley.

Mr Tighe was due to go out for the evening but was found by a concerned friend at his hotel after the veteran, who was a stickler for time, failed to show up.

The cause of Mr Tighe’s death is yet to be determined, with a coroner set to fly out to the island.

His sister Ilse Sharp, of Burnell Rise in Letchworth GC, said: “It’s ironic to think my brother came home safe and well after the war in 1982 only then to return and die. But I know he was where he wanted to be and I know how much he was looking forward to seeing the islands again.

“For a man who himself served and fought bravely for the freedom and liberation of these islands, in particular by his part in selflessly seeking to defend nearby Government House, there was perhaps no more fitting last act he could have undertaken before he died than to visit the Memorial Wood in Stanley and lay a wreath in memory of his fallen comrades.”

A ceremony was held in Mr Tighe’s memory at the Royal Marines Memorial near Government House, in Port Stanley, last Thursday.

Mr Tighe worked as a resident social worker at Orchard House in Letchworth GC, working with people with learning difficulties.

Mr Tighe was unmarried and is survived by his sisters Ilse and Daryl, and brother Leon.