D-Day veteran from Leighton Buzzard celebrates his 100th birthday surrounded by family

A Leighton Buzzard D-Day veteran celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by family.

Centenarian Oliver Munro Lucas-Hodge marked his special milestone on January 28, as he received a card from His Majesty King Charles III and the Queen Consort.

The Second World War hero – who had been part of a minesweeping flotilla that helped clear a safe channel to Utah beach – was also treated to balloons, cards, and a delcious cake.

Oliver's daughter Susan said: "His longevity can be put down to hard work, a positive attitude and a wicked sense of humour. He's a true gentleman."

Oliver was born on January 28, 1923, in Westminster and joined the River Emergency Service, Woolwich Docks, aged just 17 in 1940. One year later, Oliver volunteered for the Royal Navy, with his initial recruit training at HMS GANGES, then at Chatham Barracks for training as a signalman – known as 'bunts' in naval slang – before being drafted to HMS SEAHAM, a minesweeper for trials around the Isle of Mull.

Susan said: "After the sea trials, Oliver sailed in the SEAHAM to the Azores, Freetown, Capetown, Mombassa and through the Suez Canal to Beirut. She was then based in Alexandria and patrolled the eastern Mediterranean."

Brave Oliver was engaged in the Malta Convoys before participating in the operations to capture Sicily. Then, around the time of the fall of Syrcacuse in July 1943, he spotted an object at sea...

Susan explained: "He alerted the SEAHAM’s captain of a contact, initially thought to be a fishing boat. The captain exclaimed: 'That’s not a fishing boat, it’s a bloody submarine and we’re going to ram the b*stard!'

"The ship went full ahead, all guns blazing when the submarine then surrendered. Oliver observed his counterpart throwing the weighted code books overboard. He was then part of the boarding party and recalls stepping over a sailor’s body before hoisting the White Ensign on the captured boat."

Further encounters were to come, as during its passage over the Bay of Biscay, HMS SEAHAM picked up 82 German sailors from lifeboats following the loss of their own ship.

Later, in June 1944, courageous seaman Oliver was part of the '14th Minesweeping Flotilla' that helped to clear a safe channel to Utah beach.

Susan told the LBO: "Approaching the French coast, Oliver recalls seeing the lighthouse and still wonders how the Germans were not aware of the vast number of craft gathering. Some time later red and green flares appeared in the sky, and then the destroyers laid a smoke screen and all hell broke loose."

After the war, Oliver attended agricultural college in Wales and on visits back to his parents home in Victoria he met his future wife, Agnes. The couple were married in July 1951 in Caxton Hall, London, and Oliver was offered a position on a farm just outside Leighton Buzzard. The couple moved there that same year, and welcomed their daughter, Susan, in 1952.

Oliver worked on the farm until he retired at the age of 70, and he and Agnes enjoyed their time together until she passed away in 2011.

The D-Day veteran was presented with the Legion d’Honneur in January 2017, and boarded the D-Day 75th commemorative anniversary cruise in 2019 with his grandson.