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'I still think about friends who never made it home' - 106-year-old veteran

Stephen Nolan and Joe Doran
BBC News NI
Norman Irwin A young man in a British World War Two uniformNorman Irwin
Norman was just 20 when he joined the Army

One of the UK's oldest veterans has said his survival in the war was down to "chance, not luck," as events are held to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

Norman Irwin, from Coleraine in County Londonderry, has also spoken about the "relief" he felt when Winston Churchill announced the war in Europe was over.

Now 106, Norman is among a dwindling number of veterans remembering VE Day 80 years ago on this day.

VE Day marked the end of World War Two in Europe.

Huge crowds took to the streets on 8 May 1945 to sing, dance, and rejoice after nearly six years of war.

'We didn't know anything about war'

Norman Irwin An older gentleman sits on a beige sofa. he has a grey suit and wears his miltary medals on his jacket.Norman Irwin
Norman said there was "relief" when the war ended

"It was an unbelievable night when we knew the war was over and we had beaten the Germans," Norman told BBC News NI's The Nolan Show on Radio Ulster.

"We had the biggest party we had ever seen. Everybody felt the same - it was not jubilation that the Germans had been defeated, it was one of relief."

Norman was a factory apprentice when World War Two broke out.

He joined the Army and was deployed to Egypt to protect the Suez Canal from German attack.

He was just 20.

"We didn't know anything about war," he said.

"We were on the Suez Canal with the guns trying to keep them from dropping mines into the canal at night.

"The canal was only 30m wide. The Germans were dropping bombs from 30,000 ft. It must have been like trying to hit a thread," he recalled.

'Bullets were in around my feet'

Norman Irwin A man in an Army uniform. There are shoulders of two people either side of him. He is smiling and has brown hair.Norman Irwin
"It's hard to believe that a man can get up and walk forward under machine gun fire as if it didn't exist," says Norman

Norman also fought in Italy and still remembers the horrors of war. He recalled a time when his unit came under direct attack from the air.

"Three planes came out of nowhere. We didn't see or hear them because of the sun in the desert and they were travelling just above the speed of sound on their dive.

"The next thing bullets were in around your feet. You couldn't move. A millimetre across on his gunsight and he would have blew me to bits."

Norman puts his survival down to "chance, not luck".

"I never thought of not surviving," he said. "My motto is chance governs all."

Now in a care home, Norman still wears his war medals with pride.

'I still think about my friends who never made it home'

Norman Irwin A man in an Army uniform standing in front of a tent. He has brown hair and is smiling at the camera. There is an arm around his shoulders.Norman Irwin
As veterans attend commemoration ceremonies across the UK, Norman still remembers the bravery of friends who never made it home

As veterans attend commemoration ceremonies across the UK, he still remembers the bravery of friends who never made it home.

"I still think about them," he said.

"It's hard to believe that a man can get up and walk forward under machine gun fire as if it didn't exist.

"That very difficult to believe and yet it is a fact."

Norman Irwin Three men stand looking off camera. They all wear suits and have various military medals. Norman Irwin
Now a centenarian, Norman is reflecting on the past 80 years

World War Two saw 384,000 service personnel in the British armed forces killed in combat, according to the UK Parliament.

"I'm glad I was in the Army," said Norman.

"I saw so much I didn't like. I learnt so much I didn't know and I realised I knew more than I thought."

You can hear the interview on The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Sounds.

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