Another Serviceman Goes AWOL

89-year old former Mayor of Hove has been found after he absconded from his care home to join his comrades in Normandy for one last reunion

On a day of sombre reflection and deep felt gratitude for the bravery of the men who stormed the Normandy beaches, one D-Day veteran in particular seemed to embody all their pluck, determination and even humour with his actions 70 years later.

Bernard Jordan, who served with the Royal Navy during Operation Overlord, had been looking forward to joining the events in northern France to pay tribute in person to his comrades who fell during the invasion.

But on being told by staff at the residential care home in Hove that they had not been able to get him onto an organised coach trip for the anniversary events, he took matters into his own hands.

Pinning on his D-Day campaign medals under his raincoat Mr Jordan, 89, set off under his own steam and headed for Normandy.

His disappearance prompted staff at the care home to raise the alarm on Thursday evening, with police searching the area and contacting nearby hospitals and bus and taxi companies.

The extent of Mr Jordan’s resolve to join his old comrades only became clear when another veteran – thought to be slightly younger than him – informed police that the missing pensioner had joined a coach party and made his way to Ouistreham.

The veteran, who has lived at The Pines at Furse Hill home since January, is believed to have attended the commemoration services held in the town yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp, police commander for Brighton and Hove, said Mr Jordan was “reported missing to us by a care home who said he can’t go to Normandy for D-Day remembrance. We’ve found him there!”

Peter Curtis, CEO of Gracewell Healthcare, the company that owns Mr Jordan’s home, said staff had attempted to book him on an official tour.

He said: “In fact staff at the home tried to get Mr Jordan on to an accredited tour with the Royal British Legion, but due to the last minute nature of the request this was not possible.

“Mr Jordan was reported missing to the police yesterday evening as a matter of caution because he did not return form his normal trip to town and when he left had not told us he was still intent on trying to get to Normandy. We can confirm that her attended the D-Day commemorations in Normandy today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/...rnard-Jordan-the-great-Normandy-escapade.html

 

Holy crap! Time to release ALL the terrorists in GitMo with suitcases of money, apologizes from the US and free airfare to the target country of their choice!

 

Still a man's man at 89! I'd like to shake his hand and buy him a pint.

 

What the D-Day Veteran Told Obama at the 70th Anniversary Commemoration.

COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — After the speeches were over at the American cemetery above the Normandy beaches on Friday morning, U.S. President Barack Obama and French President François Hollande walked in front of the scores of surviving American D-Day veterans to lay a wreath. But one of them—pale and bent beneath his baseball cap as if it weighed him down—stepped forward and took Obama’s hand, and would not let him go until he had said his piece.

Was the infirm old soldier, perhaps, taking Obama to task for the scandals in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs? Was he telling the president that American policy needed more spine? An old survivor has a kind of license to say whatever he wants, even to the president of the United States. Obama smiled warmly. But then, in front of the crowd and the world’s television cameras, he would. None of us in the crowd could hear.

When the ceremony was over, I made my way through the arrays of marble crosses to the stage and to the man in the blue hat who had taken Obama’s hand.

His name, it turns out, is Irving Smolens, and he was only 19 when he took part in the Normandy landing.

What did you say to Obama?” I asked him.

“I thanked him for keeping us out of war,” said Smolens.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...ma-at-the-70th-anniversary-commemoration.html

 

LOL. Thanks Spike for posting a 3 day old story..

I'm guessing your long positions spiked DOWN today and you've had a brain fart

 

By the sounds of it this old man was suffering from alzheimers.