A refugee who fled Nazi Germany and settled in Sandwich tells his story on television next week.

Painter Harry Rossney was one of the thousands of men who made their home in huts near what is now the Pfizer complex during the Second World War.

His story - and the history behind a plaque on Sandwich Toll Bridge - is revealed in Love and War III which goes out on Meridian.

Harry was among a batch of 200 tradesmen who were chosen to leave Germany and was one of the first to arrive in Sandwich in 1939.

He told programme makers Jo and Peter Williams: “The relief to be on that train and to come to England was unbelievable.

“To be free, once the train had crossed the German border, was wonderful.”

Harry and his friends volunteered for the Pioneer Corps, to erect defences against the Germans.

The Pioneer Corps was a non-combatant unit because the British authorities were suspicious that there might be German agents among the refugees.

Attitudes later changed and by 1942, Winston Churchill decreed that Harry and his fellow Pioneers could now bear arms and they became known as the King’s Most Loyal Enemy Aliens.

Only a handful of veterans now survive and they meet once a month to reflect on their lives and their memories.

The plaque on Sandwich Toll Bridge thanks the people of east Kent for saving 5,000 men from Nazi oppression in 1939 and 1940.

Love and War III is on Meridian on Thursday, June 12, just after 11pm.