Mansfield’s centenarian commemorates D-Day in Normandy

Veteran Edward ‘Ted’ Rutland, 100, has lived in his home in Mansfield since the early 1950s, not far from where he was born in 1923.

Ted was born in Mansfield to Albert and Lily Rutland. Albert was a miner, and when Ted was about three years old, the family moved to Church Warsop so that Albert could work at Warsop Main Colliery.

As a youngster, Ted was skilled at woodwork and started working as an apprentice joiner for a local firm. Later on, he advanced to become a foreman joiner.

In 1939, when the war broke out and changed the lives of many, Ted simply carried on with life as best as he could.

After all, he was just a teenager at that time.

But in 1942, everything changed when he was drafted into the army.

Ted recalled that his father had served in the army during World War I and had advised him – “Don't join the navy, they don't have any back doors.”

Ted underwent training at Warminster, then relocated to Catterick barracks when American forces took over the base.

He joined the Royal Armoured Corp, and soon he set sail - headed to Gold Beach. At 7.50am one morning, he landed on French soil.

Ted said: “I was just thinking about whether I’d be lucky enough to get back alive. I was just thinking that I needed to survive.”

Ted remembered stories of friendly fire that resulted in the deaths of people he knew, including his commanding officer.

He plans to look for his commanding officer's name on a memorial while he is in Normandy.

He remembered how as a tank co-driver, it was his job to remove dead bodies that had been left in the middle of roads.

“We never drove over bodies”, said Ted.

He added: “The Germans would put the bodies there so that tanks would go round them but they would put mines by the side of the road.”

Ted left the army in 1947. He said he met his first wife when he was posted to the Church Army, working to protect food convoys.

He remembers meeting the late Valerie for the first time in the 1940s.

The couple brought a German Shepherd dog home with them when they returned to England.

In 1953, he bought the house in Mansfield where he still lives.

His first wife sadly passed away, and later Ted married Anthea in 1987 at St Mark’s Church in Mansfield.

Sadly, Anthea passed away on Christmas Day in 2019.

Ted said he visited Normandy last year and remembers standing in one place where the Germans fired on him from a particular building.

The building no longer exists, but the memories are still strong for Ted and others who he served alongside.

Ted expressed his wish for more younger people to learn about historical events like D-Day, expressing concern that conflicts in the Middle East could see history repeating itself.

Mansfield-born and bred Ted is commemorating eighty years since D-Day alongside veterans in Normandy.