WW2 veteran celebrates her 100th birthday

A World War Two veteran from Devon is celebrating her 100th birthday.

Suzanne Sparrow joined the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wren) at 17, working in the Plymouth dockyard where preparations were made for D-Day.

It was her job to ferry personnel from ship to shore and she still has vivid memories of watching the Allies assembling in the city for the Normandy landings in 1944.

Celebrations are due to be held at the HMS Drake barracks later, where she initially trained to be a Wren.

Mrs Sparrow shared her memories of preparations for the Normandy Landings with the BBC in 2020.

"The whole situation was an incredible one because we were sworn to secrecy," she said.

"Later did one realise what an enormous operation they were involved in.

"Of course these young men had no idea what they were going to face."

Birthday celebrations have already been held at Mrs Sparrow's language school in Plymouth.

She set up the Suzanne Sparrow Plymouth Language School in 1978 after realising there was nowhere in the city for foreign students to improve their English.

The British Legion is also hosting an event for her at the yacht club in her home town of Newton Ferrers later in November.

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