‘It’s very moving’ Heartfelt moment WW2 veteran is surprised with a party for his 100th birthday

Second World War veteran Mervyn Kersh has celebrated his 100th birthday with a surprise party, organised by his family.

To mark the surprise occasion, friends and family gathered to honour him at the Union Jack club in London.

Kersh arrived in Normandy aged 19, three days after the start of the D-Day invasion in June 1944, acting as a technical clerk for the Royal Army Ordinance Corps. He now serves as an ambassador for the British Normandy Memorial.

Speaking to GB News reporter Charlie Peters, Kersh championed the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, which helps him travel around England, France and Holland with fellow veterans to help pay their respects to those they lost on D-Day.

Kersh told GB News: “The drivers themselves, who belong to it, give their own time, their earning time, and they could be earning on the street.

“They give that up, drive me from door to door, in England or in France or in Holland, and drive around there. And not only drive, but they help in every other way.”

When asked how he feels about returning to those significant places in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, Kersh admitted that it helps to “revive the memories”.

Kersh added: “I partly feel enjoyment, I must say, as it’s nice to meet people I know there, but also people who don’t know each time, new ones.

“Of course, we go to the memorials, to cemeteries and so on. And that revives memories of that day back in June.

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“It’s very moving as well as enjoyable, it’s two separate emotions from there. It was 80 years ago, but it still brings things back.”

Speaking to guests at the party, Charlie heard from Vice Chair of the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans Paul Cook, who hailed Kersh as a “very special member” of the family.

Cook told GB News: “Not only for myself, but for the charity, to honour Mervyn who is 100 today, it’s very special. He’s a very special member of a family.

“He’s been with us for many years now, and he really is like a shining character. The stories that he tells, the service that he’s done is just amazing. And I think it’s an honor and a privilege to be here.”

Discussing the work his charity does in transporting veterans to France and other countries, particularly on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Cook explained: “I look at it as my service. It’s my own way of giving back to this generation, the golden generation, really.

“The truth is, if it weren’t for that generation, you wouldn’t be sitting here and I wouldn’t be sitting there saying thank you.”

He added: “It also reminds me of my grandfather and his service during the Second World War.

“It’s like I’m with my grandparents again, even though they’re not here – it does feel like that to me.”