BACKGROUND
Bernard Jordan, 89, was told by staff at his Hove care home that he would not be able to travel to France for the D-Day commemorations because they could not organise transport for him. However, the Royal Navy veteran refused to take no for an answer. Showing all the determination that got him through the Normandy invasion, he pinned his medals to his chest, grabbed his raincoat and caught a coach to France. After prompting an international missing persons alert and a police inquiry, he joined hundreds of his friends to commemorate the heroism and sacrifice of those who did not survive the largest seaborne invasion in history. Read more >>
COMMENTARY
This story captured the imagination of the media worldwide (see Related Links below), and even ended up on the front page of the British national dailies. The cartoon by Bob from the Daily Telegraph references the famous scene in the 1963 war movie 'The Great Escape' when Steve McQueen escapes his Nazi pursuers by jumping over a barbed wire fence on his motorbike. Yesterday's Daily Mail front page headline played on the same idea.
