War hero, 85, dies of heart attack just hours after finding his home ransacked by burglars who took wife's ring
- WWII veteran Raymond Grinyer began struggling to breathe after break-in
- Thieves stole his wife's 60th wedding anniversary ring and his war medals
- He was rushed to hospital but died hours later of a heart attack on Jan 7
- Burglars raided the couple's Essex home between Dec 26 and Jan 6
'Died of shock': WWII veteran Raymond Grinyer, 85, died of a heart attack hours after discovering his home had been burgled
A war hero who fought the Japanese died after discovering burglars had ransacked his home and stolen his treasured campaign medals.
Second World War veteran Raymond Grinyer, 85, shook with shock, wept and struggled to breathe after finding his house had been repeatedly raided.
The great-grandfather was taken to hospital but had a heart attack only hours later, surrounded by his distraught family.
The burglars stole the medals Mr Grinyer had risked his life to earn and a diamond eternity ring he had given his wife Ann, 83, to mark their 60th wedding anniversary.
Mr and Mrs Grinyer were staying with relatives over Christmas when their home in Romford, Essex, was broken into.
The thieves forced open a back window at the home some time between December 26 and January 6 and the family suspect they returned repeatedly to loot the unguarded property.
They also stole passports, bank cards, jewellery, piggy banks containing cash for the couple’s grandchildren and £3,500 in cash.
Mr Grinyer’s son, Raymond Junior, 55, of Romford, was with his parents when they discovered the break-in.
He said: ‘It was sickening. They had gone through everything. My dad sobbed his heart out. He was very agitated. Then he began to look unwell. When the paramedics came they could hardly find a pulse. The shock of it killed him.’
Mr Grinyer, a former fire station officer in Hornsey, North London, was taken to Queen’s Hospital, Romford, on January 6 before being transferred to the London Chest Hospital, East London. But he died in the early hours of January 7 after a heart attack.
A serviceman: Mr Grinyer was stationed in Japan during WWII before going on to become a fire station officer, pictured, in Hornsey, north London
His daughter Valerie Ribbons, 49, of Thurrock, Essex, said: ‘Our dad did not die peacefully, that’s what’s so hard to come to terms with.
‘He had a troubled death and was in a heightened state of anxiety and immensely distressed when he found the house had been burgled.
‘I don’t think any of us will rest until the burglars are caught.
‘My dad had done nothing to them apart from fight for their freedom. This is just so undeserved and unfair.’
Mr Grinyer, an army signaller, fought the Japanese with General William Slim’s 14th ‘Forgotten’ Army in Indonesia, Burma and Malaysia.
He was stationed in Japan after it surrendered in August 1945 following the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Mr Grinyer, who raised money for charities in his spare time, had made an emotionally-charged 12,000-mile round trip to his old base at Iwakuni in Japan last October under the Lottery-funded Heroes Return 2 scheme.
He leaves behind four children, ten grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and his wife.
Mr and Mrs Grinyer, who married in 1948, would have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in August.
During the Second World War: Mr Grinyer, pictured in Japan in 1945, returned to Japan to visit his old base at Iwakuni in October last year as part of the lottery-funded Heroes Return 2 scheme
Sentimental value: Raymond Grinyer started struggling to breathe when he discovered thieves had stolen the ring he gave to his wife Ann, 83, for their 60th wedding anniversary, pictured right, and his WWII service medals