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.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq over allegations she lived in properties linked to allies of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh.
It comes after the current Bangladeshi leader, Muhammad Yunus, said London properties used by Ms Siddiq should be investigated.
He told the Sunday Times the properties should be handed back to his government if they were acquired through “plain robbery”.
Tory leader Ms Badenoch said: “It’s time for Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq.
“He appointed his personal friend as anti-corruption minister and she is accused herself of corruption.
“Now the government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina.”
Ms Siddiq insists she has “done nothing wrong”.
Her aunt was ousted from office in August following an uprising against her 20-year leadership and fled to India.
Ms Siddiq is also named with her aunt in Bangladesh court documents about meetings with the Russian government.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir to sack the minister
Read more from Sky News:
Ten Reform councillors quit in protest
Liz Truss sends cease and desist letter to Starmer
As economic secretary to the Treasury, Ms Siddiq is responsible for policy on both the City and tackling corruption.
She referred herself to the prime minister’s ethics watchdog on Monday following the reports about the properties.
On the same day, the prime minister said: “Tulip Siddiq has acted entirely properly by referring herself to the independent adviser, as she’s now done, and that’s why we brought into being the new code.
“It’s to allow ministers to ask the adviser to establish the facts, and yes, I’ve got confidence in her, and that’s the process that will now be happening.”
Police in Aberdeen have widened the search area for two sisters who disappeared four days ago in the city.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV on Market Street after leaving their home on Tuesday at around 2.12am.
The sisters – who are part of a set of triplets and originally from Hungary – crossed the Victoria Bridge to the Torry area and turned right on to a footpath next to the River Dee.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti were last seen on CCTV in Market Street. Pic: Police Scotland/PA
They headed in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club but officers said there is no evidence to suggest the missing women left the immediate area.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and a marine unit have been trying to trace the pair.
The sisters crossed Victoria Bridge before walking along a footpath next to the River Dee
The pair were heading in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club on the south side of the River Dee
Further searches are being carried out towards the Port of Aberdeen’s South Harbour and Duthie Park.
Police Scotland said it is liaising with authorities in Hungary to support the relatives of the two sisters.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Eliza and Henrietta’s family are understandably extremely worried about them and we are working tirelessly to find them.
“We are seriously concerned about them and have significant resources dedicated to the inquiry.”
The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Officers have requested businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review their CCTV footage for the early morning of Tuesday 7 January.
Police added they are keen to hear from anyone with dashcam footage from that time.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months 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
-
Sports3 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
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway