John Stokes, born in Lowestoft and recipient of the Legion d'honneur, turns 100 in Oakham

A Normandy veteran born in a Suffolk town recalls his time in the army as if it were yesterday.

And despite turning 100 years old, John Stokes gives a clear account of crossing the Channel and liberating the French city of Caen as the German soldiers retreated.

Born in Lowestoft on January 2, 1924, John used to go swimming in the sea every day when the weather was fine.

He attended St John’s Grammar School in Lowestoft in the late 1930s and remembers a lone German Dornier aircraft dropping a bomb on the town library, scattering thousands of books across the streets.

On leaving school, John worked in a shop in the town selling menswear but he was soon called up for military service and went for an interview during which he was asked, ‘army, navy or air force?’.

Having received first aid training in the Civil Defence Service, he chose the British Army and joined, aged 18, in 1942.

“It was quite the experience, I tell you!” said John, who cuts a spritely figure for his years.

“I had to report to Norwich Barracks and, knowing what they were like, beforehand I’d had my hair cut short. Or, I thought it was short.

“I knocked on the gate and this chap came and said “Do you feel any pain when I stand near you? You should because I’m standing on your hair!”.

John joined the 51st Highland Division, whose numbers had been severely depleted through captures at Dunkirk. The new division was made up not of Scots, but mainly of Welshmen and Englishmen.

“It shaped my life,” said John, who had never been to Scotland before. Following training, the new recruits were sent to Normandy shortly after D-Day, having boarded a ship at Tilbury Docks on the Thames. There were four divisions crossing the Channel at that time - about 60,000 men.

“We broke through to Caen and once we had captured the city we crossed the river at Rouen and continued up to Saint-Valery,” said John.

“We were then sent into Germany, where we encountered Russian soldiers - I didn’t like them much - and then we were told we would go to Japan, where the war was still being fought.”

They got as far as the Middle East when the first atom bombs were dropped, ending the war.

John said: “They dumped us off in Egypt and we went to stay in the city of Ismalia by the Suez Canal.

“I was there for two years before I was able to come home, and we had quite a good time!”

While spending an evening at a dancehall in Aberdeen, John had met a young woman he describes as having “lovely black hair and a dress with three brass buttons”.

“I tapped her on the shoulder, and she told me it was for the lady to decide who she danced with!”

Betty and John were married in Aberdeen in 1951 and she continued to impress him with her no-nonsense Scottish ways.

With a smile, John recalled: “She used to jokingly say to me, “Man up, wimp.”

The couple moved to a bungalow in Caistor-on-Sea in Norfolk and John became a buyer for Debenhams, working his way up through the company, helping to run branches in Chelmsford, King’s Lynn, Staines, Manchester and Birmingham. He was also on the main board of directors in London.

He stayed loyal to Debenhams, finishing up as the company’s operations director, and on his retirement used his in-depth knowledge to become a consultant supporting other retailers.

In 2000, John and Betty moved to Clipsham, and it was while living there that John was selected to receive the Légion d’honneur, the highest French order of merit, for his part in the liberation of France.

The couple lived in the village until Betty’s death three years ago. Their older daughter, Diane, lives in Aberdeenshire, and their younger, Elizabeth, in Wardley in Rutland.

John is a great-grandfather seven times over and celebrated his 100th birthday with a family party at the weekend.

“I don’t feel much different to when I was 50,” said John, who now lives at Crown House Care Home in Crown Walk, Oakham.

“I have no ailments and I put that down to swimming in the sea when I was a boy, then keeping fit, gardening and trout fishing.”