UK's oldest WW2 veteran receives freedom honour
Donald Rose, who is also the UK's oldest man aged 110, was honoured by Erewash's youngest ever mayor, 25-year-old Harry Atkinson, at a ceremony at his care home in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.
Atkinson said it was a "privilege" to present the award to the veteran.
Receiving the award, Mr Rose said it was "great" and "very nice to see all the people" at the small event.
"I want to say thank you very much for coming to see me," he said.
"I didn't do anything that anybody else wouldn't have done."
His son, David Rose, said he was proud of his dad, adding: "Bearing in mind what he's been through, it's quite something, and he's still here to tell the tale.
"You start telling [his] story and you get a lump in your throat. All I can say is I'm extremely proud of the man.
"Thank you to the council, greatly appreciated, and he deserves it.
He also praised the work of the British Legion for supporting veterans like his father.
Paul Scott, John Sewell and Paul Jarvis from the Ilkeston and Long Eaton branches of the Legion attended the ceremony.
Harry Atkinson said veterans like Donald "need recognising".
"We've had a generation of people that served in WW2," he said. "Some gave the ultimate sacrifice.
"This is in recognition of not just Donald but to them as well. They allowed us the freedoms that we have today.
"If anything, it's a shame that it's taken us this long. 110 is a bit too long I think!"
The leader of the council James Dawson said it was a unanimous decision of the authority to award Donald the freedom of the borough.
"It's the highest honour that any local authority can bestow," he said.
"It is in recognition of Donald and his service, but also [a] special things in this 80th year of VE day and VJ day.
"People who took part, people like Donald, we have to treasure the time we have with them."
Mr Rose was born in Westcott in Surrey on 24 December 1914.
He joined the Queen's Royal Regiment at the age of 25 and went on to train as a sniper.
He served in North Africa and Europe and puts his longevity down to salty water he had to drink during his time as a Desert Rat.
Mr Rose, who turned 110 last December, enjoyed a wartime-themed party at the care home where he lives in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, for VE day anniversary celebrations earlier this month.
Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.
UK's oldest WW2 veteran endorsed for freedom honour
UK's oldest WW2 veteran on BBC VE Day 80 special
Spitfire flypast for UK's oldest WW2 veteran
UK's oldest man to celebrate 110th birthday
UK's oldest D-Day veteran to join anniversary event
Erewash Borough Council
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Fact Check: President Trump Did NOT Name Former Trump Org CFO Allen Wiesselberg To Be Bureau Of Labor Statistics Director
Did President Trump name his former CFO Allen Wiesselberg to be director of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics? No, that's not true: A fake news release making the claim was created by the AI tool Grok as a joke and then shared on X hours after Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, as head of the federal agency that reports employment numbers. Wiesselberg, if chosen, would likely have a difficult time getting Senate confirmation for the post considering he is a convicted felon after pleading guilty to charges of grand larceny, tax fraud and falsifying business records in 2022. The fake announcement originated in a post (archived here) shared on George Conway's X account on August 1, 2025. It opened: **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** **Washington, D.C. - August 1, 2025** ### President Trump Appoints Allen Weisselberg as Director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics President Donald J. Trump today announced the appointment of Allen Weisselberg as the new Director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS, a vital agency within the Department of Labor, is tasked with collecting, analyzing, and disseminating critical labor market data that shapes economic policy and decision-making across the nation. This is what the post looked like at the time of writing: Conway, a former Republican who co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, made it clear in the replies under the tweet that he used Grok, the AI tool connected to X, to create the fictional release: President Trump's firing of BLS Commissioner McEntarfer came immediately after her agency reported a negative employment report for July. "In my opinion, today's Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post (archived here) on August 1, 2025.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
50 Cent Gloats As Trump Nixes Pardon For 'Half-Innocent' Diddy, For Now
Donald Trump believes Sean 'Diddy' Combs is 'half-innocent' out of his sex-trafficking trial, but there will be no presidential pardon right now for the much-accused Grammy winner. And, just two days after Deadline exclusively reported that Trump was 'seriously considering' such a pardon and the White House played its cards close to the chest, Friday's no pardon stance makes Diddy foe 50 Cent very happy indeed. More from Deadline Sydney Sweeney American Eagle Ad Addressed By Clothing Company Amidst Partisan Uproar In Reaction To Dismal Jobs Report, Donald Trump Says He's Ordered Commissioner Of Labor Statistics To Be Fired Corporation For Public Broadcasting To Shut Down Operations After Loss Of Federal Funding 'Can you believe he thought he was getting pardoned,' the Power franchise EP and pro-Trump rapper posted on social media with an AI generated image late Friday after a still grievance fueled POTUS told Newsmax he wasn't inclined to grant Combs a get outta jail card. 'No Sir, you are not. You said very nasty things.' Yet, Trump being Trump, it could all change on a dime. Sticking it to federal prosecutors sweeping case, the eight-men and four-women jury just found Combs guilty of lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution on July 2. Though the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York now want self-declared swinger and domestic violence perpetrator Combs to continued to be denied getting out on a $50 million bond and be sentenced to several years behind bars on October 2, the reality is the not guilty decision on the harsh sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges was a serious blow for now fired lead prosecutor Maurene Comey and her team. Part of Trump's public and behind closed door dalliance with a Combs pardon is to stick a knife in the family of ex-FBI Director James Comey. The president also wants to punish what he views as an overreaching and too independent SDNY, sources tell me. Earlier Friday, months after Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson promised he would try to talk Trump out of any Combs pardon, the 'In Da Club' rapper posted a clip from the former Celebrity Apprentice host's sit-down with the fledgling conservative cable newswer where Trump agreed with reporter Rob Finnerty that any pardon for Diddy would 'more likely be a no.' Amidst a clemency campaign from Combs loyalists to the White House and those close to the transactional POTUS and Trump being Trump, the pardon 'no' tonight was qualified. Right after a discussion about a pardon for Jeffrey Epstein's newly cooperative confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, Finnerty asked: 'Sean 'Diddy' Combs. Would you consider pardoning him?' To which, a typically self-centered Trump replied: 'Well, he was essentially, I guess, sort of half innocent. Probably— I was very friendly with him but when I ran for office he was very hostile and it's hard. So, I don't know, it's more difficult.' Espousing ignorance one moment and then intimate knowledge the next about both Maxwell and Combs, Trump was just slightly less inclined towards the latter back in May when he was when asked about a pardon for the now convicted Bad Boy Records founder. 'I would certainly look at the facts if I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me,' Trump said on May 30 in the Oval Office just a couple of weeks after Combs' eventually eight-week long and often horrifically depraved trial began. Since our story on Combs receiving a possible pardon, MAGA media standard-bearers such as Megyn Kelly have pleaded Trump not to give the one-time mogul a pass. 'MAGA is already upset over elites seeming to cover for each other,' the ex-Fox News host said on July 30. 'This would not help. GOP struggling (with) young female voters, most of whom will hate a Diddy pardon,' Kelly exclaimed in a pretty convincing argument that also served as a warning shot to the transactional and media thin skinned Trump Staring at a maximum of 20 years for the prostitution charges he was found guilty of, Combs remains at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. Diddy has been at the often criticized facility since his arrest last September in a NYC hotel. Trying to quell a MAGA uprising over the withholding of the promised files on the vile Epstein, who died in custody in 2019, Trump has been letting loose even more of a barrage of distractions that usual to direct attention away from his well-known relationship with convicted and well-connected sex offender Epstein and what the files may say about him. To that, just days after being granted immunity in a two-day conversation with a top DOJ official, the 20-year sentenced Maxwell was suddenly moved out of federal prison in Florida to a low-security prison camp in Texas. Maxwell, Combs …nothing to see here. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Old Trump speech falsely linked to South Korea trade deal
Social media posts have recirculated an old video of US President Donald Trump and falsely presented it as depicting him calling South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung a "bad negotiator" after their countries agreed a trade deal. The clip in fact shows Trump criticising then president Barack Obama as he launched his presidential campaign in June 2015. "Trump mocks Lee Jae Myung as a bad negotiator," reads a Korean-language post featuring the clip on Naver Band, a South Korean forum, on July 31, 2025. "[Trump] mocked Lee as soon as the tariff negotiations finished. [Lee] has become a total pushover," it continues. The video shows Trump saying, "The people negotiating don't have a clue. Our president doesn't have a clue. He's a bad negotiator." But its Korean subtitles mistranslate "our president" as "their president". The clip was also shared in similar posts on multiple right-wing South Korean circles on Facebook, as well as on YouTube. "The way that fool Lee acted as he did, no wonder he is being mocked," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "An international embarrassment to be used like that, then mocked by the US president." Under the trade deal, the United States will impose a 15 percent tariff on South Korean imports -- down from the previously threatened 25 percent -- in exchange for $350 billion in South Korean investments in US industries and $100 billion in energy purchases (archived link). A keyword search on Google found the clip corresponds to a part of a speech Trump gave on June 16, 2015, when he announced his bid for the presidency (archived link). At around the 18:50 mark of the speech posted in full by CSPAN, Trump makes the comment: "The people negotiating don't have a clue. Our president doesn't have a clue. He's a bad negotiator." This was part of a broader tirade against the Obama administration's trade and foreign policies. Trump then references a prisoner swap involving US soldier Bowe Bergdahl to illustrate his criticism of Obama's negotiating skills. Bergdahl was a US Army sergeant who was captured by the Taliban in 2009 after walking off his post in Afghanistan and was released in 2014 in exchange for five Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo Bay (archived link). "We get Bergdahl. We get a traitor. We get a no-good traitor, and they get the five people that they wanted for years, and those people are now back on the battlefield trying to kill us. That's the negotiator we have," Trump said. A full transcript of the speech published by Time magazine also shows Trump was referring to Obama (archived link). Nowhere in the video or transcript does Trump mention South Korea or Lee Jae Myung. AFP has previously debunked similar instances of Trump remarks and social media posts being misrepresented as references to South Korea.
