Ken Hay, a veteran of the Normandy invasion who survived capture shortly after D-Day and spent years educating children about the conflict, has died aged 101.
The British Normandy Memorial, where he acted as an ambassador, announced his death on Sunday, stating he "gave everything to support the Trust’s work in sharing the message of Remembrance".
"His passion for education was unwavering," the organisation posted on social media.
"The countless schoolchildren whose lives he touched with his stories of courage and resilience nicknamed him ‘Grandad Ken’.
"We extend our most sincere condolences to Ken’s sons Chris and Jeremy, all the Hay family and his very many friends.
"Ken Hay MBE Leg d’Hon. An extraordinary gentleman whose remarkable life will never be forgotten."
From Upminster in East London, Mr Hay served with the 4th Dorset infantry regiment and landed at Courseulles-sur-Mer days after Allied forces invaded Normandy.
He was taken prisoner during a night patrol on July 7-8 and transported to Zabrze, Poland, where he worked in a coal mine.
Speaking to the Press Association in 2024 about his capture, Mr Hay remembered his initial feelings were of "dread" and "fear".
"We went out on night patrol, was supposed to be doing a blow up of a self-propelled gun in no man’s land, but in fact, it was behind their lines," Mr Hay said.
"So they let us through and then very unfriendly, they sealed it and wouldn’t let us back, so we had a battle.
"We had 30 went out on our patrol, 16 including my brother, who was a corporal, got back, five of us got captured and then presumably nine got killed."
With Russian troops advancing, the prisoners were marched around 1,000 miles to a new location, a journey that proved fatal for many.
During the three-month march, Mr Hay recalled once collapsing after finding it too painful to continue, before two comrades lifted him with an "arm around each shoulder".
Liberated by American soldiers, Mr Hay returned to the UK via Reims on May 4 1945.
Remembering his arrival at his mother’s home in Barking, he said: "They came running down the road to greet me.
"They were having breakfast, I’d had breakfast with the Army, so I just had a cup of tea with them and we all went off to mass. I’m a Catholic, and we all went off to mass and I was home in time for VE Day on the 8th of May."
After the conflict, he was appointed an MBE for community service and received France’s highest order of merit, the Legion d’Honneur.
Mr Hay frequently visited British schools to share his story, viewing it as his "duty to pass it on".
Earlier this year, he attended a service at the General Montgomery monument in Colleville-Montgomery alongside fellow veteran Henry Rice to mark the 82nd anniversary of D-Day.
Recalling a school visit, Mr Hay noted that a 13-year-old girl had asked him how wars could be stopped.
He said: "I was stumped. How do you stop wars? And then Saint Paul came to my rescue… I said to her, ‘Love. Love yourself, your friends, your family at home, the people you met today, the people you met yesterday’.
"If we could all do that, there’d be no wars."
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