Drive to help veterans mark D-Day landings

A campaign has been launched to raise £5,000 to help take 15 veterans to a war memorial marking the D-Day landings.

A coffee morning raised money to help veterans go to the National Arboretum in Staffordshire. Sarah Raymond, an entertainer from Bridgnorth who specialises in the 1940s era, joins Jim Backhouse, from Coton Hill and Leslie Stocking from Harlescott

Specsavers Hearing Centre, in Claremont Street, Shrewsbury, held a coffee morning and hopes to reach its Help for Heroes target over the next four months with various events.

The store has already raised £1,000 and plans to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day with a visit to the National Arboretum in Staffordshire.

Store manager and audiologist Dennis Smallwood said that its efforts had already received much support from the town.

Mr Smallwood said: "We've received a phenomenal response already. Customers have shown us great support and encouragement along with local businesses from around the town."

On May 14, the firm will accompany 15 veterans to the war memorial in Staffordshire to remember the fallen.

Leslie Stocking, who fought on the Normandy beaches, is hoping to attend, alongside fellow veteran and friend Jim Backhouse.

The pair, who both fought in the Royal Engineers during World War Two, recalled how their friends fell alongside them when they joined up aged 18.

Mr Backhouse, 88, from Coton Hill, said: "We had weeks of training in camps beforehand. It taught you how to be a man.

"I was 19 when I went into the Army and when I left I felt about 39."

Mr Backhouse was awarded the Legion of Honour medal, which is the highest decoration in France.

It recognises bravery and honourable service to the country, and those given the medal automatically become a knight of the Legion.

Mr Stocking, 88, from Harlescott, also has an array of medals

He said: "There were so many people who just never came back.

"The first thing I saw on the beach was where the marines had landed. Their bayonets were stuck in the ground along with their helmets and that was it.

"We lost 20,000 men in eight or nine weeks."

The pair will travel to Staffordshire on a 1940s vintage bus and Mr Smallwood believes the day will be a fitting tribute to mark the 100th anniversary of World War One.

He said: "We wanted to do something special for those who served and fought for our country."

Vera Lynn tribute singer, Sarah Raymond, also attended the coffee morning. The store also hopes to do a 100-mile swim to raise more cash.

For more information, or to make a donation, visit the store at 22 Claremont Street, or call (01743) 245455.