Tom Staniforth: Hundreds of cards as ex-Sheffield butcher and war hero marks 102nd birthday

And now, Sheffield World War Two veteran Tom Staniforth has just celebrated his 102nd birthday, after receiving hundreds of birthday cards from well-wishers all across the country.

Tom is a familiar face to generations who lived in Beighton, having run the village’s butchers shop until he retired.

But he was also a World War Two hero, having served with the Royal Engineers, going ashore with the British army several days after D-Day in 1944.

Tom recently marked his 102nd birthday, with nearly 200 birthday cards, after an appeal for cards from the care home where he now lives, Woodland Care Home, on Woodsetts Road, North Anston.

He also received visits from groups of veterans at the home, as well as his own children, Julie Johnson and Tom Staniforth, and grandchildren.

Laura McBride. from Woodland Care Home said: “We put out an appeal for cards among the local community, and it pretty much went vital!. He has received cards from far and wide.”

Tom was called up to the army in 1941, and served in the Royal Engineers as a cook, feeding the troops from field kitchens in Northern Europe. He went over to Normandy two weeks after D-Day, landing at Gold Beach. He was stationed at Cannes, and later Nijmegen, in the Netherlands.

After VE Day, he was injured while still serving with the army. A bomb went off near one of the ovens he was working with. There were concerns that he could lose his leg, but it was saved by medics.

He was later awarded the Legion D’Honneur by France for his role in the war and the country’s liberation.

Get Sheffield’s biggest stories as they’re happening - sign up for the new breaking newsletter

After he left the army in 1946, he went into business as a butcher in Sheffield.

He was a well known figure in Beighton village.

He ran the JT Duckitt butchers’ shop there, at the top of High Street, for many years before he retired.

He lived at the care home with wife Sheila, until she sadly died a few years ago.