Page 6 - Real Rochdale Issue 16 Winter 2022

On 20 March 1948, Ken brigade, which consisted of
D-Day veteran from Rochdale
celebrates his 100th birthday
The Wright family: daughter-in-law Lorraine, grandson Adam, Ken, grandson Dean, granddaughter Laura and son Alan
A war hero believed to be Rochdale’s only
surviving D-Day veteran has celebrated his
100th birthday.
Ken Wright was treated to a golf tournament in
his honour at Castle Hawk golf club, where he
was greeted by an officer from his old regiment,
the Suffolks, piper escorts and standard bearers
from the British Legion.
He was chauffeured in a World War Two jeep to
the first hole at the club, where he teed off the
tournament – aptly named the Ken Wright Cup.
It is believed Ken is the only surviving veteran
who landed on Sword Beach with the 8th
brigade, part of 3rd British Infantry Division on 6
June 1944; the Royal British Legion has said that
Ken is Rochdale’s only D-Day veteran that they
are aware of.
REAL ROCHDALE - WINTER 2022
married Nellie Cockcroft, and
they had a son, Alan, in 1954.
Alan and his wife, Lorraine,
have three children, Dean, 36,
Adam, 35, and Laura, 30, and
one great-grandchild.
Ken and Nellie were married
until her death at the age of
81, on 20 December 2010.
Ken picked up golf as a hobby
when he was 50, thanks to his
younger brother, and joined
Castle Hawk two years later,
after picking up a full set of
golf clubs from a second-hand
shop for £18.
Reflecting on his time in
the army as a private, Ken
revealed he was one of the
first soldiers to land on
Sword Beach during the
D-Day landings with the 8th
One of five children, Ken was born to his
Rochdale father, Fred – who served in World
War One – and his Shropshire mother,
Mary-Ann, on 10 October 1922.
Ken attended Newbold Comprehensive until
he was 14 when he went to work in a cotton
mill. After a run in with a lorry on the first day
of spring when cycling to work, he moved into
construction before he was called up to the Army
on 15 January 1942.
Ken was called up to the Suffolk regiment,
1st Battalion, where he served until he was
demobbed after five years and one week.
Fortunate enough to make it through the war
unwounded, he went back into construction
before retiring, aged 65.
Ken Wright being interviewed by Rob Smith from ITV
6 7
1/ Suffolk regiment (made up
of A, B and C companies), 2/
East Yorkshire and 1/South
Lancashire.
1/Suffolk was the last
battalion of the brigade to
land, acting as a reserve and
with further instructions
beyond the taking of the
beach itself.
Part of C company, the
rifleman sniper believes
he may be one of the few
survivors still alive today to
have landed on the first day.
The Royal British Legion said
that the charity was “aware”
of a few D-Day veterans from
other regions and platoons
who landed on other beaches,
but none from Ken’s.
Private Ken Wright, in Egypt in 1945
In 2008, Ken made his first
return to France since the war,
where he and his family visited
the grave of Private John
Sidlow, his best friend who had
been killed in action.
“I didn’t know what town or
cemetery he was buried at,”
Ken said. “We were driving
when we saw a sign saying
there was a British cemetery,
so we parked up and went to
look. Alan and my grandsons
were off – and they somehow
walked straight to John’s grave,
like they knew where he was.”
He has since returned to
Normandy for the 70th and
75th anniversaries of the
D-Day landings, and plans to
return for the 80th in 2024.
In 2016, Ken was appointed to
the rank of Chevalier (Knight)
in the prestigious Legion of
Honour, France’s highest
honour.
REAL ROCHDALE - WINTER 2022