WW2 veteran receives 4,000 cards for 105th birthday

A World War Two veteran celebrating his 105th birthday received more than 4,000 cards following an appeal for people to send him their greetings.

Ernest Horsfall, from Preston in Lancashire, served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as a staff sergeant from 1940 to 1946.

He said: "I am utterly amazed. I want to thank each and every person who took the time to send me a message."

King Charles and the Prime Minister were among those who sent cards.

The Blackpool branch of the Royal British Legion put out the call for cards as Mr Horsfall has no immediate family and lives in a residential home.

Secretary Christine Parry said: "We wanted to make sure Ernest's 105th birthday was a very special occasion, because our World War Two generation should never be forgotten.

"People across Lancashire, and even overseas, have shown Ernest how much they appreciate everything he did, in order for us to enjoy the freedoms that we do today."

Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on 21 April 1918, Mr Horsfall was married for 57 years and had a son and a sister.

He served in London during the Blitz before joining the Allied campaign in North Africa and then went to Italy to maintain tanks, directing 23 Italian civilian mechanics.

Mr Horsfall was running tank repair workshops near the Pompeii road in Italy on VE Day in 1945.

After the war he settled in Lancashire and worked for Vauxhall Motors.

At the age of 43, he took his first flying lesson and was a private pilot until the age of 93 when companies would no longer insure him.

He continued to co-pilot though and even worked as an aircraft inspector until the age of 101.

In 2020, on the 75th anniversary of VE Day, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "awesome" and "a credit to his generation".

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to: [email protected]