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News Alert: A 90-year-old war veteran who fled his care home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France has been honoured by his home city.
Bernard Jordan - dubbed The Great Escaper after his cross-Channel adventure last month - has been made an honorary alderman of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex.
Former Royal Navy officer Mr Jordan was collected from the Pines care home in Hove in city mayor Brian Fitch's chauffeur-driven car.
He was then driven to a reception at Brighton Town Hall where he joined a select band of more than 30 men and women who have been made honorary aldermen or women of the city since 1997.
Others include Burmese democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, Olympic champion Steve Ovett and First World War hero Henry Allingham, who became the world's oldest man before his death aged 113 in 2009.
Asked why he travelled across to Normandy, Mr Jordan, a former local borough councillor and mayor of Hove, said: ''My thoughts were with my mates who had been killed.
''I was going across to pay my respects. I was a bit off course but I got there.''
He added: ''Britain is a smashing country and the people are smashing, and if you have to do something a bit special then they are worth every effort.''
Brighton and Hove City Council officials said the honorary alderman title is a mark of respect for the work and commitment given by a former councillor.
Mr Jordan's honour was to mark his ''exceptional contribution to the work of the newly-formed Brighton and Hove Council and the former Hove Borough Council and to the community''.
Mr Fitch described Mr Jordan - affectionately known as Bernie - as ''a hero and an inspiration to all ages''.
He said: ''It's grey power. What it shows is that where you have commitment and where you are determined, you can find a way, and that's what Bernie has done.''
Mr Jordan hit headlines globally when he disappeared from his care home to embark on his cross-Channel trip to the D-Day anniversary events in Normandy wearing his war medals under his grey mac.
His disappearance sparked a police search on June 5 and his whereabouts was only uncovered when a younger veteran phoned later that night to say he had met Mr Jordan and he was safe.
Last month he was inundated with more than 2,500 birthday cards from around the world following his adventure to Normandy.
On behalf of a grateful nation we salute Mr. Jordan for his service and devotion to his country.
Remember Those Who Served
The Greatest Generations Foundation
Today In History: On This Day July 24, 1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and American planes by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
Did You Know: The operation was conducted by RAF Bomber Command and the USAAF Eighth Air Force. The British conducted night raids and the USAAF daylight raids. The initial attack on Hamburg included two new introductions to the British planning. They used "Window", otherwise known as chaff, to confuse the German radar, whilst the Pathfinder Force aircraft, which normally kept radio silence, reported the wind they encountered. This information was processed and relayed to the bomber force navigators.
Facts: In January 1946, Major Cortez F. Enloe, a surgeon in the USAAF who worked on the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS), said that the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki did not do as much fire damage as the extended airstrikes on Hamburg.
Remember Those Who Served
The Greatest Generations Foundation
Veteran Of The Week: World War II Veteran Mr. Clyde Harrop
United States Army - 76th Field Artillery Battalion
Battles: Normandy, Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe
Resides: Portland, Oregon
Short Biography: Mr. Clyde Harrop was born in Seattle, Washington in 1924. He was a ‘real outdoorsman’ from a young age, and enjoyed football, ice hockey, fishing, and hunting. He attempted to volunteer for the US Army, but was turned away because of too many young men were eager to join the military after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. He waited to be drafted, and enlisted into the Army in April 1943 as a rifleman.
Clyde completed his training and was assigned to the 76th Field Artillery Battalion in the First United States Army in 1943. He departed on the William Pepperell and arrived at Southampton shortly thereafter. Clyde and his company disembarked the William Pepperell off of Utah Beach via LSTs. From there, he participated in actions in Northern France, the Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. He remembers being extremely frightened during combat. At one point, a German Tiger Tank entered his positions about fifty yards from him, firing MG-42 machine guns from the turret. He dropped to the group and played dead until the tank moved on. He recalls that it was one of the scariest moments in his life.
The end of the war was a pivotal moment for Clyde. He remembers meeting the Russians in the Sudetenland and finally knowing for sure that the Allies had won and the war was over. Clyde and his unit stayed near a village occupied by the Russians, and he remembers hearing the soldiers screaming happily, yelling, and shooting off rockets. “They weren’t always great guys,” he said. “They took whatever they wanted. But that was a happy time for all of us.”
After the war, Clyde worked as a buyer for Boeing, a flight line inspector, and an electronic component salesman. He enjoys deep-sea fishing for crab and halibut and spending time with his children.
On behalf of a grateful nation we salute Mr. Harrop for his service and devotion to his country.
To donate in his honor of Mr. Harrop, or to donate in honor of a loved one. Honorary and memorial gifts are a wonderful way to express love, appreciation, congratulations, sympathy, or best wishes to those you honor or remember.
Please visit The Greatest Generations Foundation TODAY!
https://www.coloradogives.org/index.php?section=organizations&action=newDonation&fwID=17062
Remember Those Who Served
The Greatest Generations Foundation
