19 July 2025, 15:43

By George Icke

When Donald Rose died last week at the age of 110, we didn’t just lose a remarkable gent and Britain’s oldest man.

We lost something far more fragile: a living link to our past. Donald wasn’t just a veteran of the Second World War; he was one of the very first soldiers to storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. He saw things that most of us, thankfully, will never have to – and could still recall all the details.

I first met Donald over a year ago. He was 109, living quietly in a care home in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. I had gone to visit him ahead of the D-Day anniversary, expecting a brief conversation, a photo, maybe a few anecdotes. What I didn’t expect was to leave with hours of audio, pages of notes, and a new friendship.

Donald was sharp, warm, and wickedly funny. He recalled the moment his boots touched the ground on June 6, 1944. He also told me about the end of the war, when he and his comrades liberated Bergen-Belsen........

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