Well-wishers are being urged to send 100th birthday cards to a Second World War veteran who served in the Arctic Convoys to make his surprise celebration extra special.
Dougie Shelley, who has no known surviving family, joined the Royal Navy at 17, served as a seaman gunner and said earlier this year: “There’s not many of us left.”
The sailor, of Southend in Essex, was on a ship in Hong Kong when news came through of Germany’s surrender, and said in a previous interview that it “couldn’t have been better”.
He said: “The war killed so many people it’s unbelievable. All around, the Americans, Russians, all the Allies, the same with the Germans.
“But you were doing a job, the same as they had to. It’s either kill or be killed.
“When we heard about victory in Europe, everybody got together and we all had a good old drink up and jolly up, and couldn’t welcome it much better.”
Mr Shelley will turn 100 on 23 September.
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John Hawes, chairman of the Southend branch of the Royal Naval Association, is appealing for people to send birthday cards for Mr Shelley, which will be shown to him at a party on the day.
Mr Hawes said Mr Shelley was the branch’s “last Arctic convoy veteran and also he was at D-Day”.
Mr Shelley’s carer Paul Bennett said he was on the HMS Milne on D-Day “supporting the chaps going off to land in craft ashore in Normandy and he was a gunner keeping the skies clear of enemy aircraft”.
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Mr Hawes said the veteran had previously been the local branch’s chairman, secretary and treasurer but “as he got older he had to stop some of those jobs”.
He said: “He’s always been there, he’s always got a smile, he always wants to chat.
“He really deserves something, he has been one of our founder members way back in 1980 I think it was when the actual club opened.
“He’s always been with us on Remembrance Sunday in his wheelchair and somebody’s pushed him up to the cenotaph at Southend.”
Mr Hawes is hoping to collate at least 100 birthday cards.
“I think he’s going to thoroughly enjoy it, he really will, he’ll be over the moon,” said Mr Hawes.
“Dougie always likes to let everybody know he’s there and this will blow his socks off I think.”
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Mr Hawes, who was a chef and baker on the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, is to make Mr Shelley’s birthday cake – a Victoria sandwich.
He said Mr Shelley “does like his tot of rum” and that this would be offered to guests, with a bottle of Pusser’s Rum presented to the veteran.
The birthday cards can be sent to the Royal Naval Association club, 73-79 East Street, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS2 6LQ.
