Missing Old Man Turns Up In France, With Medals, for D-Day Anniversary
An 89-year-old veteran who went missing from his retirement home in Sussex, England yesterday morning has been located: He showed up today on the beachhead of Normandy, medals pinned to his coat, to take in the anniversary celebration of the D-Day invasion.
The Guardian, which is liveblogging the D-Day 70th anniversary festivities, has the story:
Sussex police were called at 7.15pm on Thursday by staff at the Pines care home, Furze Hill, in Hove, who said an 89-year-old who lived there had gone out at 10.30am and had not been seen since. He had gone out wearing a grey mackintosh and a jacket underneath with his war medals on, police said.
Officers began searching the area, including checking hospitals in case something had happened to him, and spoke to bus and taxi companies, but none of them knew where he was.
Late last night, a younger veteran called the nursing home to let administrators know that he'd met up with the old man on a France-bound bus, and they'd split a hotel room not far from the battlefields of Normandy.
The younger veteran reportedly promised to make sure the codger got safely home, just as soon as they were done celebrating their conquest of the Nazis and the fact that an almost-nonagenarian British pensioner is still such a complete badass.
Update: The Guardian has identified the old man as Bernard Jordan, ex-mayor of Hove, England, and a D-Day vet. His nursing home tweeted out his pic:
