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<\/p>\nD-Day hero who said sacrifice of the lost men of his generation \u2018wasn\u2019t worth\u2019 what the country has become says UK \u2018has gone to rack and ruin\u2019<\/p>\n
Although he has a chestful of medals and a proud record as the country\u2019s oldest poppy seller, Alec Penstone insists he is not a hero.<\/p>\n
\u2018The heroes are all the dead ones. The heroes are the ones we left in the Arctic and on the Normandy beaches,\u2019 the 100-year-old says from his home on the Isle of Wight.<\/p>\n
But, in the eyes of the millions of proud Britons who saw him give a damning assessment of the state of the nation on ITV\u2018s Good Morning Britain on Friday, the D-Day veteran \u2013 who fittingly was born on St George\u2019s Day \u2013 absolutely deserves the label.<\/p>\n
He told stunned presenters Kate Garraway and Adil Ray that the sacrifice of the lost men of his generation \u2018wasn\u2019t worth\u2019 what the country has become.<\/p>\n
\u2018What we fought for was our freedom, but now it\u2019s a darn sight worse than when I fought for it,\u2019 he added on TV.<\/p>\n
Now, as his words continue to fuel debate online, Alec has explained his point of view at length in a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n
\u2018It was my own personal opinion but evidently it touched a chord with very many people. My daughter has had so many messages from all over the world,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n
The widower \u2013 who is also a veteran of the Arctic convoys that took vital supplies to Russia in the Second World War \u2013 is filled with anguish and anger about what he sees as Britain\u2019s decline.<\/p>\n
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Alec Penstone, 100, pictured with his medals, said the UK has gone to \u2018rack and ruin\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t know what the hell we fought for and [why we] lost so many wonderful men. The country has gone to rack and ruin,\u2019 the grandfather-of-two continues.<\/p>\n
\u2018There are too many people with their fingers in the till. Faith in our country was the best thing [when he was young].<\/p>\n
\u2018But nowadays there\u2019s too many people that just want their own little corner and bugger everybody else.\u2019<\/p>\n
Alec\u2019s forthright view echoes a major study this month that found that eight in 10 Britons feel the nation is divided \u2013 up five percentage points from two years ago and 10 per cent since 2020.<\/p>\n
The poll, by researchers at King\u2019s College London and Ipsos Mori, also showed that half of the public feel Britain\u2019s \u2018culture\u2019 is changing too fast, up from a third.<\/p>\n
One particularly striking finding that chimed with Alec\u2019s lament was that nostalgia for Britain\u2019s past rose in every single age group, even among 16 to 24-year-olds.<\/p>\n
Nearly a third of people in that age bracket wanted Britain to return to how it \u2018used to be\u2019, up from 16 per cent in 2020.<\/p>\n
Asked of his view of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill and how he thinks today\u2019s politicians match up to him, Alec says: \u2018I admired him. He was a leader. And he made sure what needed to be done was done.<\/p>\n
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Alec is pictured with his late wife Gladys on their 70th wedding anniversary in 2015<\/p>\n
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\nDo YOU think the UK has \u2018gone to rack and ruin\u2019?
\nComment now<\/p>\n
\u2018There is no comparison whatsoever to the modern leaders. In this world today it is every man for himself.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve got no feelings for any of them.\u2019<\/p>\n
During his appearance on Good Morning Britain, which came ahead of Remembrance Sunday today, Alec was treated to a rendition of Vera Lynn\u2019s wartime hit We\u2019ll Meet Again by all-female troupe the D-Day Darlings.<\/p>\n
Typically though, he was dismissive of his own actions after his war service had been explained.<\/p>\n
\u2018I cannot see anything that I\u2019ve done specially that wouldn\u2019t have been done by other people of my generation. I\u2019m just one of the lucky ones, I\u2019m still alive,\u2019 he told the ITV presenters.<\/p>\n
As he was being driven home after his outing on screen, Alec asked his taxi driver to slow down so he could salute as they passed the Cenotaph on Whitehall.<\/p>\n
On several occasions he has been part of the parade of veterans who form the heart of the Remembrance Sunday service at the London monument each year.<\/p>\n
This time though, he is staying at home and laying a wreath at his local memorial instead.<\/p>\n
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Alec, pictured aged 20 in 1945, said he is filled with anguish and anger about what he sees as Britain\u2019s decline<\/p>\n
Although he is now blind, Alec still lives independently and continues raising money for the Royal British Legion through his selling of poppies.<\/p>\n
He is remarkably resilient too. In March 2022, his beloved wife Gladys died aged 96. Her passing came just months before their 77th wedding anniversary.<\/p>\n
After mentioning how her ashes rest on the mantlepiece of his home, Alec says of his other half: \u2018She gets onto me at nighttime asking, \u201cwhen are you coming to join me?\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018I say, \u201cNot yet love. Sorry.\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n
Revealing the secret to their happy marriage, he adds: \u2018We always had an agreement we would never go to sleep on an argument. One or both of us would always eat humble pie.\u2019<\/p>\n
Having been born in the East End of London in 1925, Alec is, as he proudly says, a \u2018real Cockney\u2019.<\/p>\n
His feels immense pride for his father, who was severely wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of the Somme in the First World War.<\/p>\n
He died a week before Alec turned 14, in April 1939.<\/p>\n
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Alec and his wife Gladys are pictured with their family and friends on their wedding day on July 21, 1945<\/p>\n
\u2018I live with perseverance,\u2019 Alec says. \u2018My dad introduced me to him. He always said if you feel you can do something son, do it. If not, don\u2019t even start it.\u2019<\/p>\n
After serving through the Blitz as a messenger for the Air Raid Precautions service, Alec signed up for military service.<\/p>\n
He had wanted to join the Merchant Navy but did not get offered a role he wanted.<\/p>\n
\u2018All they would offer me was engine room and I wanted deck hand. I even volunteered to be a cook. They said no,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n
\u2018In the end they said if you are so eager to go to sea then go to Edgware and join the real navy.<\/p>\n
\u2018So I did, much to my mother\u2019s disgust. She said, \u201cYour father would turn in his grave if he knew what you were doing!\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n
After finishing his training in December 1943, Alec was assigned to serve on submarines.<\/p>\n
Later, he moved to escort aircraft carrier HMS Campania. It was on that ship that he took part in the Arctic Convoys to Russia.<\/p>\n
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The ship Alec served on, HMS Campania, which took part in the Arctic Convoys to Russia<\/p>\n
The missions were, Alec says, \u2018hell on earth\u2019.<\/p>\n
It was for this service that Alec received the Russian Ushakov bravery medal.<\/p>\n
But, disgusted by Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, Alec now refuses to wear it.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Russian people are marvellous,\u2019 he says. \u2018I was friends with many of them. But their leader is worse than an animal.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Campania went on to play a vital role in the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.<\/p>\n
But Alec downplays his own contribution. \u2018I remember very little about D-Day because I was down on the action stations. But I could hear what was going on,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n
Last year, he was among the contingent of veterans who returned to Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France.<\/p>\n
It was in France that he met King Charles and Queen Camilla.<\/p>\n
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Alec (pictured with Rod Stewart) holds a proud record as the country\u2019s oldest poppy seller<\/p>\n
Alec, who met the late Queen Elizabeth II more than once, says His Majesty told him \u2018not to do anything silly\u2019 before he turned 100.<\/p>\n
He adds: \u2018I\u2019m so lucky. I don\u2019t know why I\u2019m spared. I never expected to be 21 let alone 100. They say the devil looks after his own.\u2019<\/p>\n
After VE Day in May 1945, Alec returned home to marry Gladys, who he had met by chance at Christmas in 1943.<\/p>\n
Two days after they tied the knot, the veteran was sent back to sea. He had to serve for a further 14 months before finally being demobbed in September 1946.<\/p>\n
He and Gladys initially lived with her parents in Tottenham before getting their own flat. Their daughter, Jackie, was born in 1962.<\/p>\n
Alec, who worked as an electrician and also for a time ran his own business, later moved his family to Stanmore in Middlesex and then Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.<\/p>\n
A move to Burton-on-Trent \u2013 which became home for 20 years \u2013 followed in 1989.<\/p>\n
Then, in 2009, Alec and Gladys settled on the Isle of Wight.<\/p>\n
As a couple, they spent their retirement giving talks in schools about their wartime experience.<\/p>\n
Alec reiterates: \u2018I never ever expected to reach 100, I must admit, that was beyond my wildest dreams.\u2019<\/p>\n
But, despite his surprise, he keeps on going. \u2018Every Saturday and every Wednesday morning, I sell poppies.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m the oldest continuously serving poppy seller in the United Kingdom. I have a gold medal to prove it.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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