Shropshire's Fred celebrates 100th birthday with cards from the Queen and Dame Vera Lynn

Fred Holding, of Red Bull, near Market Drayton, received a card from the Queen to mark his milestone and he will treasure it alongside the battered black and white photo of him stood beside 'Forces Sweetheart' Dame Vera Lynn during her visit to his unit during the war.

“She was beautiful,” he said.

“She was a lovely woman. She wanted to sing but her agent wouldn’t let her, so she stayed and had a chat. We were glad to see her anyway.”

It was only small talk – ‘how was he coping?’ – but the moment stayed with the father-of-four forever. And the photo came back to light as part of a documentary about the We’ll Meet Again singer’s life aired to mark her 100th birthday.

Fred spotted himself during the programme and friends managed to get in touch with her to get a new, signed photograph sent to Fred.

“She sent the signed picture to me, it feels marvellous, like it’s given me new life," said Fred at the time.

For his 100th birthday this week he even received a card from Dame Vera herself.

Convoy

Fred was only 20 years old when he volunteered for the Army and was in the Royal Leicester Regiment. He found himself on a ship leaving Liverpool for Bombay in India, for deployment to face the Imperial Japanese Army.

He said: “We were the biggest convoy to leave Liverpool. There were 42 ships, two of which got blown up, so we had to zig-zag the whole way instead of going in a straight line.

“After Bombay we got on another boat and landed in Sri Lanka and we did 12 months jungle training there. We couldn’t shout, we could only talk at the weekend. It was so that we could get used to talking (quietly) in the jungle.”

Fred came away with four medals which he still cherishes now. Upon returning to the UK, Fred returned to his favourite pursuit, boxing, and became a coalman, spending 25 years delivering coal from house to house.

A party in Fred's honour was held at the Castle Inn in Bletchley on Sunday.