12-07-2025
Britain's oldest Second World War veteran dies aged 110: Donald Rose survived D-Day, liberated Belsen and won the Legion D'Honneur
Britain's oldest Second World War veteran, also believed to be Britain's oldest man, Donald Rose, has passed away aged 110.
The D-Day veteran was born on Christmas Eve in 1914, the same year that Britain saw the outbreak of the First World War, and was just 25 when he signed up to fight on the front line in the Second World War.
A former sniper and Desert Rat, Mr Rose also served with the Queen's Royal Regiment and was awarded a number of medals during his service including France 's highest medal, the Legion D'Honneur.
His death was confirmed by Erewash Borough Council in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, yesterday and council leader James Dawson paid tribute to him as a 'war hero'.
Mr Dawson said: 'Our condolences go out to Donald's family and all who knew him.
'Erewash was privileged to count him as a resident.'
Mr Rose, who lived in a care home from 2020, had one grandchild and three great-grandchildren.
The veteran was so popular that in 2023 a public appeal for people to send him birthday cards saw him receive more than 150 messages from well-wishers.
In 2024 a special Spitfire flyover was arranged for Mr Rose at his care home, where Naomi Allsop worked.
At the time she said: 'He's the oldest World War Two veteran in the UK - you learn about it at school, but being with him is something else.
'The wars are part of our history and if nobody celebrates the heroes, they will fade away.
'Donald was so excited about the flypast - it's lovely to see the whole of the UK getting involved to appreciate the work he and the other veterans did.
'Whenever we do any events like this, like Remembrance Day, he always says 'I'm not that special, I just did what I had to do'.
'He thinks the men that fell are the heroes, and he doesn't see himself as one because he lived and they didn't.
'He's so lovely, he likes to sing a lot and tells funny stories.
'I've known Donald since he came to the home and we've been best friends ever since.
'He says there's no secret to living a long life - but reckons his insides have been 'pickled' by drinking sea water and eating dog biscuits during the war!'
He previously lived in Westcott, Surrey with his late wife Jeannette of 55 years, before moving to Derbyshire in 2000 when she passed away.
In May he joined 45 other veterans as guests of honour at a tea party celebration hosted by the Royal British Legion at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, to mark 80 years since VE Day.
Mr Rose, who was attached to the division which liberated Belsen concentration camp, said at the event that he did not celebrate the momentous day 80 years ago.
He said: 'When I heard that the armistice had been signed 80 years ago, I was in Germany at Belsen and, like most active soldiers, I didn't get to celebrate at that time.
'We just did what we thought was right and it was a relief when it was over.
'I never would have believed I would be remembering this day at 110 years old.
'It's meaningful to come here today with the Royal British Legion, to remember the people who didn't come back.'
Mr Rose previously said there's no secret to living a long life - but thought his insides may have been 'pickled' by drinking sea water and eating dog biscuits during the war
In the same month, Erewash mayor presented Mr Rose with the freedom of the borough for his bravery in the Second World War.
According to the council, Mr Rose said he was proud and happy to receive it, but said: 'I didn't do anything that anyone else would not have done.'
The council flew its flags at half mast to mark Mr Rose's death.
The Desert Rats' took part in the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943 and the Normandy D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, before ending the war in Germany.
Their exploits during the Siege of Tobruk were immortalised in the 1953 war film The Desert Rats starring Richard Burton.
The 7th Armoured Division was formed in 1938 to protect the Suez Canal, and went on to fight in some of the war's bloodiest battles. Nicknamed the Desert Rats, they were deployed to North Africa where, under General Montgomery, they won the battles of El Alamein to help change the course of the war.
More recently they served on the battlefields of Iraq.
The success of the Desert Rats in North Africa during the Second World War led Winston Churchill to declare: 'Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.'
The Desert Rats went on to fight in some of the war's bloodiest battles: at Salerno in Italy, in Normandy and crossing the Rhine into Germany. They ended the war in the victory parade in Berlin – at the very heart of the Third Reich.
The 7th Armoured Brigade was detached from the division during early 1942 and fought the Japanese in Burma before returning to battle in Italy.
