Members of the Screaming Eagles Living History group battled the elements on Sunday to march in Second World War uniforms and retrace the footsteps of the famous Band of Brothers.

Every October, members of the group don full combat uniform and make the pilgrimage to commemorate the thousands of American troops who passed through Wiltshire during the war.

The 15-mile round trip went from Littlecote House, where the officers of the 101st Airborne 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment were stationed, to Ramsbury and Aldbourne, where the American soldiers lived before they took part in the D-Day landings.

This was the fifth successive year that the group has undertaken the march and almost 30 people walked the route, with 12 others accompanying in jeeps.

Every year proceeds from the event are donated to a chosen charity and this year organisers believe they have raised more than £3,000 for Children in Need.

To celebrate, the charity’s mascot Pudsey joined the marchers at the half-way point in Aldbourne.

Dave Allaway, who organises the annual marches, said: “The day was a success.

“We had a few people out because of illness and the wet weather.

“We’ve had a wet year before but it was nowhere near as bad as this.

“The weather was so bad that when we got to the pub in Aldbourne we gave people the option to carry on or not because a lot of people didn’t have waterproofs with them, so we had about 50 percent do the whole march.

“By the time we got to Ramsbury it was pouring down and there was nobody out to watch us and I don’t blame them.

“The Bell Inn was fantastic, they had told us they would put on some coffee and doughnuts so we hacked down there for 30 minutes and then when we went onto Aldbourne there was a pub full of people waiting for us.”