‘Age has caught up with me’, says D-Day veteran unable to go to Normandy

A D-Day veteran says he cannot make it to Normandy for this week’s 80th anniversary commemorations because “age has finally caught up with me”.

Victor Walker, 98, is among a number of veterans unable to travel to France this year.

The King and Queen will be among those in attendance to remember the more than 156,000 Allied troops who landed on the shores of Normandy on June 6 1944, the largest amphibious invasion in history.

But Mr Walker, who worked on board a destroyer which escorted troops to the shores of France, will not be making the journey.

“Age has finally caught up with me,” he told The Telegraph from his home in Essex.

It comes after a survey by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission found nearly half of young adults did not know what D-Day was, fuelling fears the sacrifices of former generations are being forgotten.

Mr Walker was just 17 years old in June 1943, when he joined the Royal Navy as an able seaman. He joined the crew of HMS Versatile, a destroyer, starting his career escorting Arctic convoys. Before long the ship was redeployed to the Solent to escort convoys across the Channel to Normandy.

Mr Walker remembers being called to the upper deck in June 1944, to be told by the captain that the ship was to start escorting troops to Europe, specifically Arromanches.

He recalled the sense “excitement” after his captain told the crew that “nobody knows what’s happening, because no one is going ashore and no one is coming onboard”.

Mr Walker added: “We escorted barges full of soldiers and tanks. As soon as we unloaded the barges we had to go back to England.”

After the first landings, the ship returned to Portsmouth to bring back Rear-Adml William Tennant, who was in charge of the Mulberry Harbour construction – an engineering feat critical to the success of the D-Day invasion – which consisted of two portable harbours that enabled cargo to be rapidly unloaded on to the Normandy beaches. 

The harbours also served to protect the undersea pipeline known as Operation Pluto. For two days straight Mr Walker did not sleep, as the crew operated on adrenaline, scanning the waters for submarines.

The significance of D-Day remains clear to him to this day. He said: “If it wasn’t for us old boys, we wouldn’t be here today, would we?”

Although Mr Walker travelled to Normandy for the 65th, 70th and 75th commemorations, his health would not permit him to travel this year.

For many of the 50 veterans travelling to Normandy next week, it is likely to be the last time that they will make such a trip. 

Mr Walker said: “Age is, unfortunately, finally catching up with me. I have been very lucky to have visited Normandy several times in previous years to remember. However, this year I am unable to make the trip due to mobility and other health problems.”

While he is “disappointed” not to be going to France, he is looking forward to attending the Royal British Legion’s UK National Service of Remembrance, at the National Memorial Arboretum on June 6. The service will be focused on the stories of Second World War veterans, told through first-person testimony, and will culminate in an act of remembrance and wreath-laying.

Another Royal Navy Veteran,  Able Seaman Lewis Curl, also 98, who died just a few weeks before the commemorations.

Curl survived the sinking of a freighter off France during the Second World War, served with the Royal Navy from 1942 to 1946.

The D-Day veteran was travelling on a freighter carrying a load of army lorries, transport and fuel when it was bombed and sunk off the French coast.

A Royal Navy spokesman explained that Curl survived by wading ashore and then proceeding along the coast in the dark, walking and obtaining lifts on an army vehicle, finally arriving at the naval base where he was taken by launch to HMS Dacres, who lay at anchor just off shore.

He died on May 22.

Eric Suchland, another D-Day veteran, said he believes all children should be taught about the sacrifices of those who took part in the Allied invasion of northern France as he celebrated his 100th birthday.

The former Royals Corps of Signals LCpl said:”I think all school children should be told about the war in Europe, the Normandy campaign.

“I think it should be in kiddies’ minds to grow up and remember the days when so many people did lose their lives for the sake of freedom.”

He added that he still has vivid memories of the events of 80 years ago, when he was sent to Normandy as part of a three-man signals unit to support a field ambulance brigade, who were collecting the injured and the dead.

Mr Suchland said he was looking forward to watching the events in Normandy on the TV and has accepted he cannot travel as he needs oxygen 24 hours a day. He said he did sneak off to renew his passport without telling anyone, just in case.

Philippa Rawlinson, the director of remembrance at the RBL, said: “The Royal British Legion is proud to be delivering a series of commemorative events across Normandy and the National Memorial Arboretum, which will honour the service and sacrifice of all those who served together to make the liberation of Europe possible.

“These incredibly moving and poignant occasions will be our last opportunity to host a significant number of D-Day and Normandy veterans, as we invite world leaders and the nation to pay tribute to their bravery and sacrifice.”

After the war, Mr Walker joined HMS Liverpool for one year, before pursuing a career as a successful greengrocer.