How many British WW2 Veterans are still around ?

I am aware of four Chindit veterans that are still with us. They are 104, 102 and two are 100 years old. Although these are the only living servicemen that the Chindit Society are aware of, I am fairly confident that there will be, in some far-flung corners of the British Isles and former Empire, other Chindit survivors from WW2.

 

Ah! The Harry Patch moment. I ran (Hon Sec) the 24th Lancers Old Comrades Association, my late father’s Regiment. As far as we know, they’ve all now gone to their Tanky Valhalla; it feels weird without them….really weird. Great bunch of chaps who largely did well in life, now gone. Their stories and experiences now fading from memory….good that this forum helps keep those memories extant.

 

Yeah I did briefly wonder which sources.

Ha! His (possible) spinning is lucrative - maybe a WW2Talk YouTube channel?

 

One of the 24th Lancers Old Comrades - Bob Holt - said to me “will the last one to leave please turn out the light” to which my reply was “Bob, that’s not possible, someone else - me - will need to do that “. I can’t bring myself to do it. My son has promised to lay a wreath on the 24th Lancers memorial in Tilly sur Seulles on the 100th D Day Anniversary; will he be the one to then turn out the light?

 

Talking of veterans that are still around. This January, the 352nd Special Operations Wing (USAF), hosted two 100 year old Chindit veterans and their families at RAF Mildenhall in celebration of their shared Air Commando Heritage. 77 Brigade veteran, Sid Machin took his second ever flight in an American piloted aircraft (first one being his WACO glider back in March 1944), when he was given the honour of to sit in the cockpit of a MC-130J Commando II transport plane.

The 352nd Special Operations Wing hosts Chindit veterans and families in celebration of Air Commando Heritage

 

Hi Ron, my name is Sandra and I work with heritage (when I say work, I mean, dig out details of historical importance for community projects).
You will my posts scattered throughout this forum, has I waddle through the muddy ways of sheer bureaucracy, just to learn more about veterans, in this case, Black veterans, for a project.
Since I begun, almost 2 years ago, I have been asking 'where are the veterans', because my interest is hearing from them, what they went through, and not to create another page of the long, explanatory book about war.
You see, people like you are unique, and you have my entire admiration.
There wasn't computers, drones, armours, AI, special clothes and shoes.
And I wanted to collect their memories, every little bit they could remember, and hold it for those that will come in a world of virus, misdirection, TikTok, love island and too much of too much to know the sturdiness, determination and courage that took to face the horrors that you have faced.
Stupid me, I have accepted a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to do a project that ended up having no readily available information, which meant working using my almost empty pockets to pay for hours and hours of research (until I have discovered that MoD has no records because they are passing to the National Archives, which will take a few decades to check the boxes, and NARA had their records burned so mostly, WW2 was chargrilled).
This means 18 months doing the rounds on records, archives, news, groups, Facebook, Fold here, Fold there.... and it is a hell of a business because we have to pay over and over, left and right, to uncover the bits and pieces of the war and of the troops.
Never mind my personal circumstances, but it feels horrendous, going through pages of numbers that mean people, real people, that suffered, died and are forgotten.
All I wanted was to find out who they were, where are they, could they tell me about them and what they went through.
I failed, of course, had no replies from veterans' organisations, most are gone, family has disappeared, official organisations did not bother to digitise documentation for the last 80 years, just to say ' fill the form, pay for the work, we will try to find the box'.
What the hell have they been doing all this time, instead of securing the information and making it available?
Well, I wanted to do something like this Veterans History Project Collection, Available Online, World War, 1939 to 1945 | Library of Congress (loc.gov) for this part of the world, but somehow it seems that there is a lack of interest from organisations linked to veterans: they do not pass them messages, they do not tell them that people are interested in hearing what they have to tell.
And, yes, I often ask: how many are there?
And, where are they?

Apologies, I rant.
I find that, in old age, I rant a lot.
And I often feel that too many people have made sacrifices to no avail, because human beings are hell-bent on doing nastiness every single day and they will not change, no matter how BIG the sacrifice was.

Just like one guy I heard about, he went around trying to help people, then they nailed them to two big sticks, and then the guy died to save them.
Ungrateful brutes!

Anyway, this to tell you that nobody knows how many and where, but some people, like me, still hold a profound admiration for the veterans amazing sacrifice and would like to know more.
Thank you for your service, Sir.

Sandra

 

Sandra
Ron is no longer with us and the number of WW2 veterans reduce further as the months and years go on.

As Ron oft quoted
“A man is not truly dead until you stop mentioning his name”
This forum carries this forward every single day in every single way.

 

............. no words

 

For you Sandra; and Ron.

Always remember, never forget,

Jim.

So Long, Ron Goldstein | Spitalfields Life

 

Fine words, chum, fine words.

 

Would you mind if I publish this on Facebook?
Never met Ron, never met any of them, but I owe them too much.
As I stood alone in the street where I live in Durham, in D-Day, offering two miserable minutes of my life in silence, no one else bothered to do the same, coming and going.
I wonder where all of them would be without all of these outstanding people.
Thank you for posting.
Sandra

 

Sandra
Many veterans have published their experiences online which are freely available.
As with anything some people are very interested in WW2 others not so much.
Its just the way it is (there us a song title there somewhere)

 

I think it would be easier to find them in just one place, searching the internet brings you a gigantic headache.

 

You need to get on to the BBC People's War site and tap in the various theatres of war. There are literally thousands of Veterans stories on there.

Lesley

 

Ron's war stories are online, just put his name Google.

 

Get in touch with member Paul Cheall on here. We both had quite a few opportunities to meet Veteran Wilf Shaw of the Green Howards who did a few podcasts with us, usually in Debenhams or M&S cafes!
Unfortunately Wilf passed away a few years ago but you can find his name on here with a few details about him.
I cannot manage to get a link to the podcasts from the links Paul gave, but contact him via a Pm (conversation) and I'm sure he will help .

Lesley

 

Good evening all,

I saw this thread and thought I would contribute. I myself am currently busily engaged with a little personal 'mission' in which I am attempting to locate and visit as many Second World War veterans as I can manage. In the past few weeks I have made four such meetings, with two further meetings scheduled for this weekend (both D-Day veterans).

I created an Instagram page on which I intend to continue to share the stories of the veterans whom I meet. If anyone would like to follow the project, please find the page here:

https://www.instagram.com/veterans_project/

Similarly, if anyone knows of a veteran who might be interested in a very informal meeting to discuss their experiences and simply to make a new friend, please do get in touch. It's a great honour to meet these people and I would be very grateful if anyone could help me in arranging further meetings.

Many thanks,

JC.