A D-Day veteran has had a bus named after him in his home city.
Ken Cooke, now 99, was an 18-year-old Army conscript taking part in the Normandy landings in June 1944.
He was a member of the Army Cadets when he was called up on his eighteenth birthday.
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Ken was sent for basic training and then posted to The Green Howards, 7th Battalion.
Shortly before D-Day, his battalion was transferred to a camp in Hampshire.
Yet it was only then when shown photographs and a model of the French coastline did he and his comrades become aware of where they were to go into action.
Now over 81 years later his name has been added to a bus that will carry passengers around his home city of York.
A purple plaque on the bus reads ‘This bus is dedicated to Ken Cooke’.
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It has details about his life written underneath and an image of an old man wearing a military uniform and medals.
He is a regular on the U1 and U2 bus services he uses to travel into the city centre from the home he has lived in since 1953.
On Wednesday he was surprised by family including his son Stephen and friends from the York Normandy Veterans support crew who arrived at the James Street depot on board the bus.
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He thought he was visiting the depot to meet with managers and engineers to have a tour.
A flabbergasted Ken – who turns 100 in August – said: “What the hell is going on here, then?”
He boarded the bus to loud cheers, flags waving and hugs from members of the veterans group.
The bus naming idea came from Tony Richmond, a driver with First Bus who had heard about Mr Cooke and asked the management team if this was possible.
Joel Bradley, General Manager of First Bus in York, said: “As soon as Tony told us about Ken there was no hesitation in agreeing to name a bus.
“I met him for the first time a few weeks ago and he is a truly inspiring character.
“We hope he enjoys this honour as much as the medals he has rightly received during his lifetime.”
Mr Cooke recalled his experience as an 18-year-old arriving in the port of Southampton to board the Empire Rapier, an American Liberty ship late on June 5 1944.
“I’d never seen anything like it,” he said.
“I’d only visited a beach once in my childhood as I grew up in a mining town.”
As the ship approached the Normandy coast in the early hours of June 6 the soldiers took to the landing craft.
He leaned over the side, looking at a scene of explosions and dust on the beach.
“I wasn’t bothered about bullets flying and explosions, I was more concerned about my socks getting wet,” he added.
The reality of what he experienced in the first 24 hours as he and his comrades fought their way inland only began to sink in the following morning as he discovered that many had died.
“That’s when it became real,” he said.
A few weeks after D-Day he was seriously wounded and sent back to the UK for treatment.
Later he was posted to Germany but again came under shelling and was diagnosed with what is now known as PTSD and returned home.
He was discharged from the Army, still aged 18 and went back to his former job in a blacksmith’s shop at Rowntrees where he worked for 48 years until retirement.
The French government awarded him the Légion d’Honneur for his bravery.
He is the last surviving member of the York Normandy Veterans, as reported by What’s The Jam.
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