Surprises galore as D-day hero Bill celebrates 106th birthday in grand style

AMPHIBIOUS TRUCK JUST LIKE THE ONE HE DROVE IN WW2 ROLLS IN

A CELEBRATION fit for a hero was waiting for D-day veteran Bill Milward as he arrived at his favourite place, Hilltop Primary School, on Thursday. But there was an even bigger birthday surprise in store.

On the day he turned 106, the town’s last WW2 veteran was serenaded with several renditions of “Happy Birthday” by cheering pupils at the Wyaston Road School, but the final chorus was drowned out by the familiar sound of a diesel engine chugging into the playground.

Because the owners of a DUKW amphibious vehicle, affectionately known as a “Duck”, had travelled all the way from Peterborough to once again reunite Bill with a restored version of the vehicles he drove in the D-day landings.

As the pupils’ jaws dropped at the sight of the two and-a-half ton military vehicle driving through the school gates, which had been unloaded at Ashbourne Lodge Care Home, Bill’s eyes lit up and he beamed as he reached over to the vehicle he joyfully refers to as “my duck”.

At the tender age of 103, Bill and his friends were treated to a ride around Ashbourne in the vehicle as part of his birthday celebrations, with a low-loader once again bringing the truck up from the east coast, and Ashbourne firefighters and a cherry picker being drafted in to help him into the passenger seat.

This followed one of his favourite birthday celebrations, at the age of just 100, being invited to turn up a

Shrovetide ball and start off the Ash Wednesday game back in 2016, following in the footsteps of royalty.

Last year Bill braved the snow for a sociall-distanced 105th birthday celebration outside his home in Peak View Drive, where he has been shielding throughout the pandemic.

And during last week’s outing Bill was once again showered with gifts by his friends at Hilltop Primary School, including a card made by the children, and he was even treated to a cake in the shape of the DUKW vehicle, complete with two giant sparklers.

Bill, right, with his brother, during the Second World War. Bill landed on the Normandy beaches in an amphibious vehicle like the one which surprised him on his 106th birthday Pupils at Hilltop Primary School made a big fuss of Bill, making him a giant card and singing “Happy Birthday” to him Ashbourne’s D-day veteran Bill Milward celebrates his 106th birthday at Hilltop Primary School, along with the surprise arrival of a DUKW amphibious vehicle, like the one he drove at the D-day landings