Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
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SOMBRE Funeral procession goes through Boulogne
For a moment, 94-year-old Theo Roeffen is just a voice down the line from the Netherlands, and then his face appears. Mervyn Kersh, 95, greets Theo like an old friend. “Hello!” The great-grandads have never met, but they are connected by the thread of shared history, and their dream of a “corona-free world”.
In June 1944, 19-year-old Mervyn took part in the D-day l andings, reaching Normandy on day three, losing nine out of 10 of his comrades the same day.
The same year, 18-year-old Theo joined the Dutch Resistance, and was captured on his first operation by German troops. He later joined the Stoottroepen Regiment, made up of Resistance partisans, was injured by a landmine and trained in Britain before serving in the Far East.
Now both men are united by a common enemy – the coronavirus. “It’s the only thing that’s affected the whole world,” Mervyn says. “We’re all on one side in this.” Theo nods agreement. “The problem is we can’t see it,” Mervyn says. “Before you knew what you were fighting, now we don’t know.”
As we mark the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day today in a year that celebrated the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the Mirror asked the two men to
hold a videocall conversation as part of our Europe Talks project. Working with German news outlet Zeit Online and newspapers in 13 other countries, we are connecting more than 14,000 people in 15 countries for one-to-one conversations.
Our nonagenarians are Zoom natives by now, and soon chatting away. Mervyn was featured in the BBC’S coverage on Remembrance Sunday, and will go out to his front door at 11am to mark the two minutes silence of Armistice Day. For Theo, in Holland, 11/11 is not considered a special day. The two widowers are quickly laughing about their wartime experiences. Theo was deployed via boat from Liverpool to Malaysia, India and Indonesia where he fought against Japan.
“I was sent to Asia too,” Mervyn, who served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, says. “But the Japanese heard I was coming and they surrendered!”
Both men made difficult sea crossings over the Channel, Mervyn to Normandy as the German artillery fired on them, and Theo on board a tiny storm-battered boat, travelling to the UK for training.
“Perhaps we passed each other on the way who received the Legion d’honneur in 201
Advancing into Germany from France via Mervyn, a private in the ordnance corp cattle trucks still labelled ‘two horse, 40 was among the men sent to Bergen-belsen tration camp days after it was liberated. T was passionate about medicine and h training, became a medic in the Stoottroe
Mervyn, who remains active in the Asso Jewish Ex-servicemen and Women, and t
Legion, jokes that he was the last person to hear about the end of the war in Europe. He explains: “I was on board a train and it wasn’t until I got to Belgium that I was told the war had ended.”
Now, he says, showing Theo his medals, he is the last of his unit still alive. Theo nods and then laughs. “All that is a long time ago,” he says. “75 years ago.”
The pair discuss the secrets of living well into your nineties. “I drink a lot of long-life milk, that must do it,” Mervyn says, ever the joker.
Theo says cycling and a daily exercise programme
keeps him young, while Mervyn says he hasn’t bothered with exercise since he left the army.
The two men agree they would like to meet next year “when this is all over”, perhaps at the memorial site at Arnhem, which Mervyn has visited, and where Theo attends a service every year.
“See you in the corona-free world,” calls Mervyn. “Yes,” says Theo, “in the corona-free world.” To join in sign up at mirror.co.uk/europetalks