Wisbech WW2 Veteran Joins Royal British Legion Aged 102

John DevineBBC News, Cambridgeshire

John Devine/BBC Stanley Eastgate, 102, has very thin grey hair on the sides of his head he has a red shirt with black tie under a beige cardigan and is sitting in a wing chair with a small table beside him with a glass and bottle of water on and some liquorice novelties in a yellow box. — Stanley Eastgate was a gunner in the Royal Artillery and was captured in North Africa in late 1942

The Royal British Legion will welcome its newest member on the 80th anniversary of VE Day – thought to be the oldest in the country to sign up.

Stanley Eastgate is a 102-year-old World War Two veteran of the Army, who still lives in the town where he was born – Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.

Mr Eastgate joined the Royal Artillery as a gunner in March 1942, at the age of 19.

He will sign up at the town’s RBL branch RBL branch on 8 May, saying: “If they will have me, I’ll enjoy it; I can take part in church services.”

Branch chairman Toby North said he was “absolutely thrilled” to welcome Mr Eastgate, although he admitted he thought it was an April’s Fool joke when he first heard the news.

Mr Eastgate attempted to escape from his first prisoner of war camp through the main sewer in January 1943, but was re-captured

Eastgate family Black and white photo of Stanley Eastgate he has short dark hair combed over the top of his head and is wearing an army uniform with high collar. — Mr Eastgate attempted to escape from his first prisoner of war camp through the main sewer in January 1943, but was re-captured

As a teenage soldier, Mr Eastgate was captured shortly after his regiment arrived in Algiers, Algeria, in November 1942.

“I ended up in a camp in Italy and was given the job of treading grapes, bare-footed, but I’ll tell you something – I used to do a wee in it and I have never drank any wine since,” he said.

“I had my head shaved and a red diamond sewn on the back of my uniform, but I still made two attempts to escape, one of which was through a sewer, without success though.”

The gunner was demobbed in 1947 and eventually returned to Wisbech where he re-joined the fruit and potato merchant he had worked at prior to the war.

He said he had had “quite a life”, but was now “a bit slower in my actions and walking around”.

Toby North said that when he first heard a 102-year-old wanted to join the Wisbech RBL branch, he thought it was an April Fool

John Devine/BBC Toby North has very short grey hair on top of his head and a neatly trimmed grey beard and moustache, he is wearing a blue shirt and behind him are some red curtains, pulled with a clock on a shelf and a picture on the wall on the left. — Toby North said that when he first heard a 102-year-old wanted to join the Wisbech RBL branch, he thought it was an April Fool

Mr North said: “The legion must have members of 100-plus years, but surely no one of the age of 102 has ever joined as a new member.”

He said he hoped Mr Eastgate would be an active member, taking part in events including laying wreaths on Remembrance days.

Mr Eastgate’s son David, 72, and daughter Carol Ann, 76, said they both planed to join the legion alongside their father.

“We like to try and support our dad as much as we can, and with the help the RBL can offer, it is a nice for dad to join something like that,” his son David said.

Mr Eastgate’s son David described his father as a “very determined man who has looked after the family tremendously well over the years”

John Devine/BBC David Eastgate, 72, has thin whisps of hair on the sides of a bald head he is wearing glasses with a thin dark frame and has a blue casual shirt on, he is sitting in a wing chair with a red curtain behind and a white table lamp in front of a radiator. — Mr Eastgate’s son David described his father as a “very determined man who has looked after the family tremendously well over the years”

Mr Eastgate said of his long life: “I go to see the doctor regularly and have check-ups – and I keep my fingernails clean, people don’t realise that dirt and germs get under them, I have mine manicured.”

The head office of the Royal British Legion is checking whether Mr Eastgate is its oldest-ever new joiner.