First Bus honours York’s last veteran of D-Day
- Bus named after Ken Cooke, who will be 100 this year
- Friends surprise Ken on visit to depot
The last-surviving York veteran of the D-Day Landings was honoured by First Bus today (Wednesday 5 March).
The bus operator named one of its fleet after Ken Cooke, who will be 100 in August and landed on Gold Beach on the Normandy coast in June 1944, aged 18.
Ken 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. He thought he was visiting the depot to meet with managers and engineers to have a tour.
A flabbergasted Ken 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 Ken 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.”
Ken was a member of the Fishergate Army Cadets when he was called up on his eighteenth birthday and sent to Catterick for basic training and then posted to The Green Howards, 7th Battalion.
He recalls the tests to decide which regiment he would join. “There were pieces of metal lying a table, I had no idea what and had to assemble them. Turned out to be a bicycle pump.”
Shortly before D-Day his battalion were transferred to a camp in Hampshire and it was only then when shown photographs and a model of the French coastline did Ken and his comrades become aware of where they were to go into action.
Arriving in the port of Southampton to board the Empire Rapier, an American Liberty ship late on June 5th 1944, Ken was amazed at the sights. “I’d never seen anything like it. I’d only visited a beach once in my childhood as I grew up in mining town.”
As the ship approached the Normandy coast in the early hours of 6th June the soldiers took to the landing craft. He lent 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!”
The reality of what he experienced in the first 24 hours as he as 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 Ken 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 the Blacksmiths shop at Rowntrees, where he worked for 48 years until retirement.
The French government awarded him the Légion d’Honneur for his bravery and in 2025 Ken is the last surviving member of the York Normandy Veterans.
He is a regular customer on the U1 and U2 bus services which he uses to travel into the city centre from his home in the Hull Road area of York, where he has lived since he bought the house in 1953.
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