The oldest surviving First World War veteran has been made an honorary member of The Fleet Air Arm Association.

Henry Allingham, 109, who lives in a nursing home in his home town of Eastbourne, was given the honour yesterday.

The veteran, who joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915 as an air mechanic in the anti-Zeppelin seaplane squadron, is thought to be one of about 20 surviving servicemen from the Great War.

He was an airborne spotter in the Battle of Jutland and also served at the Somme and the third Battle of Ypres.

As he received the decoration, Mr Allingham thanked the association and said: "I appreciate this more than I can tell you."

Mr Allingham recalled how the first plane he saw was the first one he got into. All it had for armaments were two rifles in the cockpit.

He said the chaos of war meant he had to turn his hand to anything. He felt he should talk about his wartime experiences in memory of the men who were killed.

He said: "I wanted to forget it but I felt if I didn't talk about it I was being disrespectful to the men who gave so much on our behalf. I don't regret it because I owe them plenty. But for those men, you wouldn't be here and neither would I."

Henry has been awarded a string of medals in this country and was awarded France's highest military honour, the Legion d'Honneur, in 2003.

He said: "You got apprehensive but not frightened because there was so much on your mind. But I was frightened when I fell in a shell hole. I thought I was never going to get out. It was up to my shoulders and I got my feet stuck. I managed to haul my torso out of the swamp but if I'd gone the other way I don't think I would have got out."

He joked that the secret to longevity was whisky and cigarettes before admitting he did not know the answer.

The presentation was made by the association's president, Admiral Sir Raymond Ligo KCB, who told Henry: "We honour you very much." He said: "We owe them an awful lot and tend to forget it."