89 yr old D Day vet found, at D Day commemoration

Dean Burnett @garwboy · 6 jun.

I like the 90yo veteran told he couldn't go to #DDay70 but went anyway. The Axis forces couldn't stop this guy, a nursing home has no chance

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It emerged yesterday that in Portsmouth Mr Jordan had bumped into a group of fellow veterans, coincidentally from Brighton, who took him under their wing and accompanied him to the commemorative events, where a gathering of world leaders, including President Barack Obama, David Cameron, Vladimir Putin and Francoise Holland, the French President, paid tribute to the valour and heroism of those who fought and fell during the invasion.

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Peter Curtice, the chief executive of Gracewell Healthcare, which runs The Pines, said: “On one occasion Bernie’s forced a U-boat submarine to the surface. He boarded it along with other men from his ship and captured one of the enigma coding machines the Germans were using.”

It is thought the capture of the machine by Mr Jordan and his comrades will have given the British vital information in helping to break the secret signal codes being used by the German fleet to communicate.

“We are all in awe of what men like Bernie did during the war for all our sakes,” added Mr Curtice.

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Staff had tried, and failed, to get Jordan a place on a Royal British Legion trip to the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings – he took part in Operation Overlord as a Royal Navy officer. So on Thursday morning, wearing a grey raincoat to hide the medals pinned to his best suit, he slipped out of the home, headed for Brighton station and caught a train to Portsmouth.

On the dockside he found a party of veterans and hitched a ride on a ferry. By the time staff called Sussex police over their missing resident, Jordan had checked into a hotel in Ouistreham. (...)

Next week marks Jordan's 90th birthday, but he intends to be back in Normandy for 6 June 2015. (...)

Steve Tuckwell, of Brittany Ferries, said Jordan enjoyed a fried breakfast during the seven-hour crossing. "For a 90-year-old man, he had a healthy appetite. He's a tremendous fellow, we loved having him on board. He was picked up by one of our staff who found him wandering around, she took him under her wing, took him up to the bridge and treated him royally, and he won the hearts of the crew. We adopted him as an honorary veteran and we will give him free travel to the Normandy beaches for the rest of his life. He's a lovely, lovely guy: when he came off, the crew all clapped him."

He said that Jordan met a group of singers called the Candy Girls during the crossing and added: "He's got a lot of charm with the ladies, but I understand he has a wife."

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He explained: ‘In the months before this year’s anniversary, I had been trying to get on an official trip to Normandy and my care home staff were helping me, but I didn’t have the necessary security passes.

‘I thought that was that. Everyone had done their best for me. The staff at the care home had tried very hard to get me on an official trip.

‘But then the day before D-Day, I saw all the TV coverage and thought I had to go to Normandy anyway and be part of it. I was naughty and secretive, I didn’t tell the care home staff what I was planning to do. I only told my wife Irene who is in the home with me and knows what I’m like. I swore her to secrecy and told her where I was going.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Jordan-tells-amazing-story.html#ixzz3457spTMc

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After a continental breakfast at Le Cosy Hotel in Ouistreham, he visited Le Grand Bunker with the Orrells, then sunned himself at one of the seafront cafes, where he enjoyed a beer.

There was no shortage of attention from pretty young women – as our photographs show.
'I can be very secretive when I want to be and when I set my mind to do something, I do it. This is what us Normandy veterans are like'
Bernard Jordan


He was also interviewed by a Slovakian television crew about his memories.

He told them he thought it was ‘most unfair’ that France was occupied in the war, and that he liked French people.

Then, in perhaps the most audacious manoeuvre of his adventure, Mr Jordan decided to take a look at the official commemorative event taking place in Ouistreham.

Despite lacking any accreditation whatsoever, he strolled past supposedly tight security into the main arena itself, only 100 yards away from where the Queen would sit, alongside Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and other world leaders.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Jordan-tells-amazing-story.html#ixzz3458qbLSm

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A war veteran who turned up in Normandy after he was reported missing from his care home in England said he was overwhelmed by the number of cards and gifts he had received for his 90th birthday.

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The former mayor of Hove said he wanted to thank everyone for their good wishes after being inundated with at least 2,500 birthday cards from around the world following his Normandy adventure.

Mr Jordan said: "I just can't believe it. It's quite overwhelming to be honest.

"I want to thank everyone who sent me a card or a gift. Sadly I can't thank everyone in person so I hope they get this message.

"I'm just one man and I'm nothing special. Anyone would think I'd defeated Hitler on my own.

"There were a lot of other people on the beaches of Normandy that day, this lovely attention is for them really, not me."

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ZaZara said:

Care Home Escapee Veteran Receives 2,500 Birthday Cards

http://forces.tv/00019146

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ajc748 said:

Sadly/amazingly - Bernards wife has died - a week after him.

Brighton and Hove mayor Brian Fitch paid tribute to Mrs Jordan. He said: "They were a very close couple who will both be sadly missed. Irene went into the care home first after Bernie had looked after her at home, so it came as a bit of a shock that he died first. They had been married for more than 50 years and were a devoted couple. After he had gone, she probably gave up the will. They were religious people who are now reunited together."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ome-D-Day-dies-just-days-beloved-husband.html

RIP to them both

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