WWII veteran celebrates 100
On May 20, 1941, hundreds of German soldiers filled the Cretan sky with parachutes, bombarding a camp full of New Zealand, British, Australian and Greek troops.
The attack brought on 12 days of battle and saw hundreds killed, thousands kept prisoner and the lucky ones escape what is now known as the Second World War’s Battle of Crete. Ralph Ward, of Taranaki, was one of those.
‘‘He never spoke about it until he was about 95,’’ Alan Beck, Ralph’s nephew, said. ‘‘He always said those who spoke the most did the least.’’
Yesterday Ralph celebrated his 100th birthday at his home at Tainui Village in New Plymouth. Beck shared his uncle’s stories, including the fact that from when he was born in Stratford on June 27, 1918, he was a ‘‘sickly boy’’.
‘‘They didn’t think he’d last more than two weeks,’’ Beck said.
Now, Ralph is celebrating a century and is one of ‘‘a handful’’ of veterans still alive from the Battle of Crete.
When he was 21, after leaving New Plymouth Boys’ High School and swapping his job as a paper boy for a job at an optometrist, World War II broke out.
‘‘He was one of the first to volunteer for the war,’’ Beck said.
Beck said Ralph shared some details of the war after ‘‘50 or 60 years’’ and talked about how he spotted a German soldier parachuting down on the morning the battle started. He then fought his way out and jumped on the last ship and went to Egypt.
Ralph returned to New Zealand four years later and married his ‘‘sweetheart’’ Win Burrows.
They had three children John, Janice and Beverley and now have six grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.
Ralph has been involved in many community organisations including the RSA and New Plymouth Roller Skating Club, and he’s always kept up with the goings on in the council.
During 1992 Ralph posed for a photo wearing the mayor’s chains and a rumour started amongst the grandchildren that ‘‘Uncle Ralph used to be the mayor of New Plymouth’’.
New Plymouth Neil Holdom gave him the ultimate birthday gift yesterday and let him wear them again.
Six weeks ago Ralph came down with a chest infection and he became worried.
‘‘He was so determined to get to 100,’’ Beck said. ‘‘He said to his doctor ‘just let me get to my party, after that you can do what you want’.’’
But he’s since perked up again – ‘‘I’m feeling so good I think I’m going to go for another couple of years’’, he told Beck.
Ralph has always been known as a positive man and Beck said he’s picked up one of his life mottos from his beloved uncle.
‘‘His saying was ‘I don’t do negative’,’’ Beck said. ‘‘Now one of my sayings is ‘we don’t do negative, let’s think of the positives.’’