WW2 hero: 'I'm 100 years old - and this is when I loved Sheffield the most'

“I was born in Owlerton in 1924, and then we moved to Attercliffe when I was aged four. The in 1932 we moved to the new Shiregreen estate, where I went to school.

“In 1943, I was called up for the army, and I joined the 1st Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. They sent us to Italy.

“We were at Anzio, in Italy. We were under fire all the time. We had the sea behind us and the Germans in front of us, in 26 miles of land. Wherever we were we were under fire. We were sleeping in fox holes and having to move from one position to another position. It was not very pleasant.

“When the Normandy landings happened, we were moved to Palestine, and we were based there for six months, until they called us back to Europe again to fight in Germany.

“They sent us to Marseilles, and then to the north of France, and Belgium, and we moved forward to Germany. We crossed the River Rhine on a Bailey bridge, while the Germans were retreating as they were driven back. We were in Ratzeburg, near Magdeburg when the war ended.

“The awful things that happened all merge into one. Luckily, we only had one proper engangement with the Germans after after crossing the River Elbe. We had gone out to round up a company of Germans, and while we were out, there was an attack on the place that our battalion was guarding. We lost a couple of our men, but that was the last time we had to fight.

“The part of Sheffield I have liked the most in my 100 years? It was when I came back to the city after the war, after I was demobbed in 1947. It had changed a lot while I was away, and had been knocked about in the bombing, and rebuilt a bit. It took a while for things to get back to normal, but they did.

“Arriving back, I got a job working for British Acheson Electrodes Ltd, in Wincobank. We made graphite, which was used in the steel industry among other industries.

“The Wincobank factory closed in 1962 and they moved us to a bigger factory in Wadley Bridge, and I worked there until December 1986, when they made me redundant aged 62. I tried for new jobs, but eventually the Job Centre said ‘enjoy your retirement.”

For more stories like this and all of the latest news, current events and sport from across Sheffield and South Yorkshire, sign up today for your free newsletter from The Star

“I married my wife Sarah in 1966, and we were together nearby 30 years until she died in 1995.

“I celebrated my 100th birthday on Thursday at Sheffield Home Mess, Farm Road, near Queens Road in Sheffield - and it couldn’t have been better organised

“The party was unbelievable, and could not have been planned any better. It started with a bugle call, and the number of people there to talk to was unbelievable, and I’m so grateful to the people who organised it.”