Stratford’s D-Day veteran Phil celebrates his 100th birthday

D-DAY veteran Philip Sweet of Stratford celebrates an historic milestone with his 100th birthday this week.

He was just 19 when he took part in Operation Overlord and was involved in the first wave of attacks on German positions on Gold Beach.

Philip - who was in the Royal Navy - told the Herald: “I can remember every minute by minute about D-Day and the specific things that happened then and it will never leave my memory. The sea was dreadfully rough. I had a job to do so you’d concentrate and get the job done. Later on you think, good God - how did I do that? There was immense pride in our armed forces.”

His 100th birthday celebrations have lasted all week and lots of people who have met Philip over the years joined in the party to wish him many happy returns.

Last Thursday, Escape Escape Arts hosted a special birthday party complete with cake that depicted Philip in his Royal Navy uniform.

Karen Williams of Escape Arts said: “Philip has always been a special part of our charity work ever since he helped us with the D-Day anniversary commemorations. He is quite an amazing human. We hosted a special birthday celebration for him at Stratford Town. It was a day in a million for a man in a million. He is a gentleman and a kind soul and everything you’d want your grandad to be. The team at Aston Martin brought Phil to the football ground in a DBX so a big “thank you” to Mark Edwards because we only contacted them the day before but Mark brought Phil to the ground in some style. We had a special and intimate day for Phil because he is the last remaining D-Day veteran in Stratford and he represents all the families that did have D-Day veterans in the area.”

Municipal Charities in Stratford has also organised a birthday party for Phil tomorrow (25th October) at the town hall.

Phil - who is a resident of one of the Municipal Charities Almshouses in Stratford will celebrate the day with his family and other Almshouse residents, trustees and staff of Municipal Charities and members of the Stratford URC Church to celebrate his 100th Birthday party.

The Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire Tim Cox and the deputy lieutenant Simon Miesegaes will also be there to celebrate the event along with the Mayor of Stratford Jason Fotjik.

The High Sheriff of Warwickshire Rajvinder Kaur Gill sends her greetings “Wishing Phil a wonderful 100th birthday celebration.” Stratford MP Manuela Perteghella says “I hope Phil has a wonderful time.”

The Chair of Municipal Charities Andy Smith said “Phil has been one of our residents for over 21 years and we are thrilled to be able to join with his family and Stratford Town Council to celebrate his birthday.”

Phil recalls the following about his war time experience.

“I was sent to a place called Lochailort in the Highlands where I did six weeks of hefty nautical and ability training. Those six weeks were the toughest I have experienced in my life both physically and mentally. At the end of each week you had exams and if you were not good enough you would be dropped. But I lasted and was appointed an officer then sent to Troon for officer training for another six weeks and then appointed to a tank landing craft ready for the D-Day landings.

The war had been going for quite a considerable period of time for my training was in readiness for the D-Day landings the time of which we did not know then.

I was part of the initial wave that landed at the village of La Rivière as part of the Gold Beach landings. I was in a flotilla which were the first to go into the beach with two tanks on top of each other on the landing craft so that they could bombard the beach with shells as they were coming in to land. We didn't lose anybody that day although the landing craft was damaged by the underwater objects as we were going in.

Then following the landing we were offloading equipment to the beaches and whilst doing so I had to go to the tented hospital at Bayeux with suspected peritonitis which turned out to be appendicitis.

I was sent to Plymouth to HMS Foliot, running all the movement of landing craft. We were tropicalizing (adding refrigeration and air conditioning) landing craft ready for the Far East but of course that collapsed because they dropped the atomic bomb.

Phil has achieved an amazing milestone in his life and told the Herald his secret is activity.

“I’ve kept as active as possible throughout my life and the birthday cake made by Escape arts with me in the top is absolutely remarkable. I will be celebrating my birthday with family and friends this weekend,” Phil said.