Jewish D-Day veteran, 98, tells of his despair at tragic October 7 Hamas attack
MERVYN Kersh was one of only nine D-Day veterans fit enough to join the march past the Cenotaph.
In 1944, aged 19, he survived the Normandy beaches and fought through Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The Jewish father-of-three, 98, a private with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, also witnessed the hell of Belsen concentration camp and was sent to help survivors of Hitler’s death camp.
Today, nearly 80 years later, he was close to tears as he said: “It was a waste of time. We are going through the same thing again.”
He wonders whether the sacrifice of his generation was worth it — because events since Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,200 Israelis on October 7 have left him in despair.
Mervyn, of Cockfosters, North London, said of World War Two: “It had a purpose which we have achieved but we seem to be losing it again and it’s every upsetting.”
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With his daughter Lynne, 70, at his side, Mervyn added: “The events of the last few weeks emphasise what it was all about, what we were all for.
“If we’re not strong and we’re not ready for war, we are going to land up in another war.”
He describes the Hamas attacks on the Jewish nation as “cowardly and disgusting”
Next Sunday, Mervyn will attend the annual Cenotaph commemoration held since 1921 by the Jewish Ex-Servicemen’s Association.
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At age 100, Joe Randall, of Teignmouth, Devon, was the oldest of the 9,618 veterans and representatives of military associations who marched past the Cenotaph to lay wreaths.
Normandy veteran Joe, a Corporal in the RAF, remembered his friend Dick McCrystal who was killed on New Year’s day 1945 when the Luftwaffe strafed an airfield in Holland.
Joe said: “I will never forget him. It’s an honour to be at the Cenotaph to remember with respect and dignity.”
Eight-year-old Isabelle Bovington was the youngest marcher.
She was with 45 other children of parents who died in service and are helped by Scotty’s Little Soldiers charity.
Her dad, Leading Naval Nurse Tom Bovington, died in 2016 of an undiagnosed heart condition.
Widow Vicky, 36, from Lancaster, said: “Through Scotty’s I realised that Remembrance was for everyone, including my daughters.”
