{"id":74666,"date":"2024-01-14T15:50:45","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T15:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/01\/14\/british-d-day-veteran-celebrates-turning-100\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:10:30","slug":"british-d-day-veteran-celebrates-turning-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/2024\/01\/14\/british-d-day-veteran-celebrates-turning-100\/","title":{"rendered":"British D-Day veteran celebrates turning 100"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">LONDON \u2014 British <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/06\/06\/a-look-back-at-d-day\/\" target=\"_blank\">D-Day<\/a> veteran Bill Gladden turned 100 on Saturday, a day after his niece threw a surprise birthday party for him. It was a big fuss he didn\u2019t really expect, though the old soldier had tears in his eyes long before he caught sight of a cake decorated with a replica of his uniform and the medals he earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Gladden isn\u2019t focused on his birthday this year, big as it is. He\u2019s looking six months down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s because the event he really wants to attend is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2023\/06\/06\/normandy-marks-d-days-79th-anniversary-honors-world-war-ii-veterans\/\" target=\"_blank\">80th anniversary of the D-Day landings<\/a> on June 6. It may be the last of the big events marking the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe because so few of the 850,000 troops who took part remain. Gladden wants to be there to honor those who are gone \u2014 to remind people that victory did not come cheap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf I could do that this year, I should be happy,\u2019\u2019 he told The Associated Press from his home in Haverhill, eastern England, where he still lives on his own. \u201cWell, I am happy now, but I should be more happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"7320\" height=\"4880\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331566689.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"D-Day veteran Bill Gladden show off a painting, of they type of glider he was in when he landed in Normandy and a snap of parachute which he later embroidered, at his home in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024.\" class=\"wp-image-108034\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331566689.jpg.jpg 7320w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331566689.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331566689.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331566689.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331566689.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331566689.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 7320px) 100vw, 7320px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">D-Day veteran Bill Gladden show off a painting, of they type of glider he was in when he landed in Normandy and a snap of parachute which he later embroidered, at his home in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alastair Grant\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A dispatch rider with the 6th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment, Gladden landed behind the front lines on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in a wooden glider loaded with six motorcycles and a 17,000-pound (7,700-kilogram) tank. The unit was part of an operation charged with securing bridges over the River Orne and Caen Canal so they could be used by Allied forces moving inland from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2022\/06\/06\/a-look-back-june-6-1944-the-allies-storm-normandy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Normandy beaches<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Based in an orchard outside the village of Ranville, Gladden spent 12 days making forays into the surrounding countryside to check out reports of enemy activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On June 16, he carried two injured soldiers into a barn that was being used as a makeshift field hospital. Two days later, he found himself at the same barn, his right ankle shattered by machine gun fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lying on the grass outside the hospital, he read the treatment label pinned to his tunic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAmputation considered. Large deep wound in right ankle. Compound fracture of both tibia and fibula. All extension tendons destroyed. Evacuate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gladden didn\u2019t lose his leg, but he spent the next three years in the hospital as doctors performed a series of surgeries, including tendon transplants, skin and bone grafts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the war, Gladden married Marie Warne, an army driver he met in 1943, and spent 40 years working for Siemens and Pearl Insurance. They had a daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These days he\u2019s more likely to talk about how proud he is of his family than he is to reminisce about D-Day. But his wartime story is preserved in a scrapbook that includes a newspaper clipping about \u201cthe tanks that were built to fly,\u201d his drawings and other memorabilia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s also a scrap of parachute left behind by one of the paratroopers who landed in the orchard at Ranville. As he lay in the hospital recovering from his wounds, Gladden painstakingly stitched his unit\u2019s shoulder insignia into the fabric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The edges are frayed and discolored after eight decades, but \u201cRoyal Armoured Corps\u201d still stands out in an arc of red lettering on a yellow background. Underneath is a silhouette of Pegasus, the flying horse, over the word \u201cAirborne.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese are the flashes we wore on our battledress blouses,\u201d says the caption in neat block letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nothing has faded from memory though. At his party, people celebrated his service and offered a booming happy birthday chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI just think he\u2019s a legend, what he\u2019s been through, what he\u2019s seen, what he\u2019s done,\u2019\u2019 said his niece, Kaye Thorpe. \u201cHe\u2019s just amazing, and he\u2019s still bright as a button on top.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"6560\" height=\"4373\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331790398.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"A birthday cake specially designed and made for D-Day veteran Bill Gladden surprises birthday party in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024.\" class=\"wp-image-108037\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331790398.jpg.jpg 6560w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331790398.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331790398.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331790398.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331790398.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24013331790398.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 6560px) 100vw, 6560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A birthday cake specially designed and made for D-Day veteran Bill Gladden surprises birthday party in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alastair Grant\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For men like Bill Gladden, though, there was no I in D-Day. Even as he celebrated his 100th birthday, somehow it wasn\u2019t just about him. Instead, he echoed the words of many who survived the invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen you think of all those young lives that lay in those cemeteries abroad, the Allies and us won the war but (victory) was a very expensive one, life-wise,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cBecause so many youngsters died.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Associated Press writers Mayuko Ono and Alastair Grant contributed<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British D-Day veteran Bill Gladden really wants to attend the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":108026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":21,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,16,26,21],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2343],"class_list":["post-74666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LOZPDZO7Y5DX7NERPORMKCNHTA","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2024\/01\/14\/british-d-day-veteran-celebrates-turning-100\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>British D-Day veteran celebrates turning 100 - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"British D-Day veteran Bill Gladden really wants to attend the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"British D-Day veteran celebrates turning 100\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"British D-Day veteran Bill Gladden really wants to attend the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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