Last living World War 2 veterans with combined age of 900 years unite to share stories
Report by ITV Wales journalist Gwennan Campbell
World War Two killed more people, disrupted more lives, and probably had more far reaching effects than any other war in history.
Eight decades on, some of the last living veterans have come together to reflect on and remember their time in the forces.
Nine veterans from the Swansea area, with a combined age of more than 900 years, attended an event at Mansion House as part of the city's Armed Forces Celebrations.
David Cledlyn was just 15 years-old when the war broke out. He’s now 100 years-old but he remembers it well.
“We were in the Welsh chapel when the minister said the country had just declared war against Germany. And mother looked down at me in the pew and said, ‘Forget it, you are not going to war.'"
“At 15 and two months, I joined my first ship. She saw me off on high street station and the last words she said to me in Welsh and English were, ‘Promise me you’ll be a good boy’.
“And were you?” I asked him.
“No, not really”, he replied with a smirk on his face.
David was accepted as a Sea Cadet Officer and joined the crew of the Quebec City on the Atlantic Convoys.
In 1942, sailing out of Cape Town in the South Atlantic, his vessel was hit and sunk by a German U-boat.
The crew spent 14 days at sea in a lifeboat with virtually no water until they hit land in Liberia.
After weeks in a jungle village, they were eventually rescued by a British Royal Navy crew.
But there was a silver lining.
“When I came home they put me in Morriston Military hospital because I’d damaged my leg. When I was fit to walk, I was interviewed by a senior officer. I liked this lady and I didn’t know her name.
"After I left the base, I wrote to the Commander of the base and asked him if he could tell me the name of the officer who interviewed me”, he said.
“Everyone told me, ‘He won’t give you a name’ but he did.”
By the time the Commander answered, Captain David was on his way back to north Africa.
“I just had a little note from this lady and I kept writing to her and I was another two and a quarter years in the Mediterranean fleet of seven invasions and I just kept writing to her.
“Eventually, I came back to the UK, back to Swansea and I met this lady. We got married within 12 months and we were married for 75 years."
But not everyone served in the army. Kath Morris was a codebreaker at Britain’s best-kept secret, Bletchley Park.
“I was just working at a machine, typing from morse code to whatever, day in day out for three years. The most boring job ever”, she said.
It might have been boring but it was an essential job which some historians claim shortened the war by up to two years. But Kath remains tight-lipped about her experience.
“Were you a spy?”, I asked her.
“Oh yes. But don’t tell anybody. I can’t tell you more, that’s a secret. If I told you more, I wouldn’t be a spy.”
World War Two began over eight decades ago, but the memories are still very much alive in Swansea.
“Words can’t express what it means to me to be here today. It’s such a momentous occasion and I’m just fortunate to be alive to be here”, said Royal Engineer, Ronald Horsey.
It was a war that changed the world. But the men and women who served for their country are now part of a disappearing generation.
The 98-year-old added: “To speak to other comrades, it’s incredible, and people that have done a lot more than me. I’m one of the young ones.”
It's an event that’s brought the community together too.
Swansea Council Leader Rob Stewart said: “Without the efforts of the people here today, we wouldn’t have the freedoms that we enjoy. So it’s really nice for us to say thank you to them and to give them a lovely afternoon.
"It’s really important that we do this and take time to honour our veterans and I couldn’t be prouder to be doing it.”
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