Plan B Forum

D-Day: Hove veteran disappears for Normandy trip

Staff had not been able to get Bernard Jordan on to an accredited tour to Normandy, but he made his own way there

The former mayor of Hove, Bernard Jordan, left the home at 10:30 BST on Thursday, and was reported missing to Sussex Police that evening.

Staff later discovered he had joined other veterans in France and was safe and well at a hotel in Ouistreham.

Brighton and Hove police had tweeted: "90 year old veteran reported missing from care home. Turns out they'd said no to him going to #DDay70 but he went anyway #fightingspirit"

Hundreds of veterans have been marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France, with events on the beaches of Normandy.

On the 70th anniversary of D-Day, 89-year-old veteran John 'Jock' Hutton has repeated a feat he undertook in June 1944, arriving at a commemoration of the landings by parachuting into a field in Normandy.

Hutton was just 19 when – as a member of 13th Battalion the Parachute Regiment, part of the British 6th Airborne Division – he dropped 500 feet into a dark wheat field, spearheading the Allied assault with his comrades.

The jump was so low, he told the Daily Telegraph, there was no possibility of a reserve chute opening. "If the main hadn't opened – well, goodnight!" he told the paper.

At 89, Hutton is among the younger D-Day veterans attending tomorrow's commemoration, expected to be their last great gathering. On doctor's orders, he will make the jump in tandem with a serving soldier, Colour Sergeant Michael Blanchard.

Just last year, Hutton was still performing parachute jumps on his own – but has been advised not to go solo any more after decades of damage to his joints

Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/58844/ ... z33tmJZnIr

A 93-year-old World War II veteran returned this week to a battlefield in western France the same way he first arrived 70 years ago: He parachuted in, this time carrying an American flag.

Jim "Pee Wee" Martin joined parachuters from around he world in a jump Thursday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy by Allied forces. He completed a tandem jump onto Utah Beach in western France.

Seventy years earlier, he touched down the night before D-Day, landing in enemy territory. This time, he was greeted by smiling faces and a phalanx of cameras.

As a member of the 101st Airborne Division, Martin parachuted over Utah Beach as the Allied forces bid to retake France and, eventually, the rest of Europe from Nazi Germany. They actually touched down in enemy-controlled territory at night, before what's referred to as D-Day.

A WW2 veteran who disappeared from his nursing home to attend the D-Day commemorations in France could soon be honoured for his "heroic escapade", the mayor of Brighton and Hove has said.

Councillor Brian Fitch has put forward a proposal for Bernard Jordan to be given the Freedom of the City.

The move has to be approved by Brighton council chiefs, but if it goes ahead it could happen as early as next month.

"It's the biggest honour you can give anyone," Mr Fitch said.

A WW2 veteran who hit the headlines around the world after he disappeared from his nursing home in Hove to attend the D-Day commemorations in France has celebrated his 90th birthday.

Bernard Jordan had decided to have a "low-key" birthday, spending it quietly with friends and his wife Irene.

But he received at least 2,500 birthday cards after his trip to Normandy.

"I just can't believe it. It's quite overwhelming to be honest," the former Royal Navy officer said.

“Anyone would think I'd defeated Hitler on my own”
Bernard Jordan

The Candy Girls, who met Mr Jordan on his way to France, were also singing to him.

Tributes poured in tonight to a war veteran who broke out of his care home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France.
Bernard Jordan, of Hove, East Sussex, who was dubbed the 'Great Escaper' after his cross-Channel adventure last year, has died peacefully in hospital aged 90.
Today, 'heartbroken' journalist Susanna Reid said she was saddened by the death of the 'best of the best' - while newsreader Kay Burley, among many other Britons, added her condolences.

rubato wrote:We're almost at the end of that generation who served in WWII. A friend's father turns 90 in a few weeks and served in the navy in the Pacific.

I read this daily as a short reminder of how we got here and who did all the heavy lifting:

http://ww2today.com/

yrs,
rubato

Are you too Anglo-centric?
Definitely. I am based in Britain and most of my research comes from what material is relatively readily available here.
There are some strange biases here. Just one example: in Britain it seems easier to obtain German memoirs of the war than its does Australian memoirs, particularly relating to campaigns in the Pacific.
But I do actively seek out as wide a range of material as possible and I am always open to suggestions.
- See more at: http://ww2today.com/faq#sthash.iUJ600Kd.dpuf

Gob wrote:Fuck you to.


Did you read the post?

"I read this daily as a short reminder of how we got here and who did all the heavy lifting"

A link to a article on America's involvement,

Nothing about the British.

Funny that..

America did "all the heavy lifting"

Obvious what the retards point was.

Just denigrating British war efforts as he constantly does.

Fucking shit heap.