War hero of D-Day landings celebrates 100th birthday in Woodhall Spa care home

Harry Archer played a key role in the momentous Allied operation on the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago, which began the liberation of France and laid the foundations for victory in the Second World War.

Once the war was over, he visited Lincolnshire with his wife, who has since died, and they enjoyed the county so much that they moved from Kent and settled in Woodhall Spa in 1988 after he retired from work.

Now he is being looked after at the town’s Russell Green Care Home, where a special 100th birthday party featured a show by The Spa Singers, a buffet, cakes, champagne and balloons.

"Harry is still active and has full capacity,” said Julie Garnett, the home’s manager. “He is an amazing gentleman.”

Another big party is being held with family and friends at The Petwood Hotel in Woodhall Spa this Friday, which is the actual day he reaches his century.

An ardent Arsenal supporter, Harry was still living independently at home until his late 90s and was still able to lucidly recall his memories of the Normandy landings, which was the largest seaborne invasion in history.

He was just 18 years old when he was called up in 1942 to join the Army and he later joined the Royal Corps of Signals, which provided the battlefield communications and information systems essential to all operations.

The teenage mechanic and military driver had no idea of the significance of what he was about to be a part of when sent to a beach in western Scotland for training.

“We were not told where we were going,” he recalled five years ago during the 75th anniversary of D-Day. “You didn’t ask. You just followed orders.”

As a lance-corporal, Harry was a member of the team that landed on Gold Beach. They were responsible for guiding an 11-foot lorry off the beaches and on to a nearby cliff top, where it was to be the hub of covert communications.

"When we landed, we couldn’t believe the noise,” he said. “The sound of the gunfire and bombs was deafening.

"I was so lucky. But at at my age, I did not feel fear and didn’t see the danger. I was so busy and did not worry.”

Harry and his colleagues spent their days and nights making sure all communication lines were kept open, finding shelter in a hut previously occupied by enemy troops.

He admitted the enormity of the Gold Beach operation, in which hundreds of Allied troops were killed, was lost on him as a young man. But later in life, he and his wife Margaret made a poignant return to Normandy.

"It settled me,” he said. “It was so peaceful and that was a good thing.

"I do find it emotional when the memories start to come back. I don’t think you ever forget certain things.”

Family and friends describe Harry, who went on to work as a postman and a driving instructor, as “a remarkable man and a true inspiration.”

One good friend, Barbara Hunter, said: “His story is a good one to put out there as we head into Remembrance Day again in November.”