Last member of D-Day veterans group to scatter comrades’ ashes on final trip to Normandy
The only surviving member of a group of D-Day veterans will scatter his comrades’ ashes on his final trip to the beaches of Normandy this week.
Ken Cooke, 98, has decided that the 80th anniversary commemorations this week will be the last time he revisits Gold Beach where he landed as an 18-year-old on 6 June 1944.
He is the last member in the York Normandy Veterans group and will join a dwindling number of elderly former servicemen who are able to return to France to remember the largest ever seaborne invasion which helped turn the course of World War Two.
Mr Cooke told Sky News how he remembers being overwhelmed by the spectacle of what he saw as they approached the beach.
“I was at the side of the landing craft with my arms and elbows on the side…watching all the fireworks,” he said.
“There’s all these explosion, rockets going. All battleships firing, all the shells exploding on the beach.
“It was one big noise.”
Mr Cooke in his wartime days
He was part of the 7th battalion of the Green Howards that day but had never been on a boat before and had only ever visited a beach once – as an eight-year-old boy on a day trip to Skegness.
“I had never seen anything like it,” he said.
“We were cannon fodder. And no doubt about it, we were cannon fodder.
“We had had no training for D-Day. We were just thrown in.”
‘Very, very lucky’
Some 156,000 Allied troops landed on five beaches along the Normandy coast in northern France while 24,000 troops were dropped into the battle from the air.
Despite losing many of his comrades that day Ken made it up Gold Beach while dodging incoming fire from Nazi-held positions.
“We were very, very lucky,” he explained.
Mr Cooke speaks with Sky News’ Tom Parmenter
Mr Cooke said it was only the day after D-Day, when the enormity of what they had been through started to sink in, they began to realise how many men were missing.
A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself, while in the Battle of Normandy that followed 73,000 Allied forces lost their lives.
Read more:
The woman who averted disaster on D-Day
D-Day in numbers
How act of love saved the life of soldier
The invasion paved the way for the liberation of France from Nazi occupation and led to victory in Europe for the Allies the following year.
After his war Ken Cooke returned to life in York working at the Rowntree’s confectionery factory for the most of his career.
A British Army column moves inland from Gold Beach following the D-Day landings. Pic: National Archives of Canada via Reuters
Through the York Normandy Veterans group he became close friends with other former servicemen who had also been part of D-Day and the subsequent landings.
He is now the sole surviving member and has described it as an “honour” to take some of the ashes of his close friends Sid Metcalfe and Douglas Petty back over to Normandy this week.
Mr Petty flew 31 missions with bomber command, including raids supporting the D-Day landings.
His funeral took place on what would have been his 100th birthday on 11 January 2023.
The late Douglas Petty
Difficult to comprehend
The great-grandson of Trooper Sid Metcalfe, who died aged 99 on Remembrance Day in 2022, told Sky News he thought the ashes gesture was “incredible”.
George Child, 23, said his family was extremely thankful to Mr Cooke.
He said: “Having someone who has been there 80 years ago going back and being able to actually stand there spreading his ashes where he would have lost all of his friends.
“I think it is incredible really. He is doing that not just for Sid but for everyone in York Normandy Veterans.”
The late Sid Metcalfe
The student filmmaker from Leeds has pieced together his late great-grandfather’s story from landing on the beaches through to being captured as a prisoner of war in the Netherlands.
He added: “I just wouldn’t be able to comprehend what they went through and what was going through their heads.
“I don’t think a lot of people [nowadays] would have the courage to step up and fight.”
Mr Metcalfe’s great-grandson George Child
Part of his great-grandfather’s ashes are at the remembrance garden at Eden Camp, a modern history museum in North Yorkshire which used to be a WW2 prisoner of war camp.
Ken Cooke will spread the remaining ashes in a private service this week in Normandy.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway