Jewish D-Day veteran returns to Normandy for 81st commemoration
100-year old Mervyn Kersh paid tribute to the thousands of young men who died fighting Nazi troops in France on June 6, 1944
One of the last living Jewish D-Day veterans received a hero’s welcome in Normandy last week, as he returned to the hallowed ground where thousands of Allied troops perished in an attempt to liberate Nazi-occupied France during the second world war.
Mervyn Kersh, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, travelled to pay tribute on the 81st anniversary of the June 1944 D-Day landings.
Accompanied by his daughter Lynne, he recalled being sent ashore towards enemy fire when he was just 19 years old, telling ITV News “in the early hours of the morning, you could see the coastline coming closer and it suddenly dawned on me what was happening,” adding that he read from a book of Psalms and “felt better after it.”
Wreaths were laid at Gold Beach, one of the five designated D-Day landing areas, whilst parades, parachute jumps, a fly-past and a remembrance service honouring the thousands who died that day was held at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, attended by the last surviving veterans, who are now in their late 90s and older.
Kersh and fellow veteran Stanley Fisher are among an estimated 60,000 Jews who served in the British Armed Forces during the war. Both landed in Normandy in 1944 and were later stationed near Bergen-Belsen when it was liberated by British forces in April 1945.
A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day.
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