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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Military / Can’t Keep a Good Man Down

Can’t Keep a Good Man Down

by John Cole|  June 6, 20147:36 pm| 70 Comments

This post is in: Military

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Britain D-Day Intrepid Veteran

I love this:

An 89-year old World War II veteran who was reported missing from a nursing home in England has been found in Normandy after traveling to attend D-Day commemorations, police said Friday.

Bernard Jordan was last seen at The Pines home in Hove, southern England, on Thursday morning. Staff called police when he did not return that evening.

Sussex Police said Friday that another veteran later called to say he and Jordan were at a hotel in Ouistreham, France. Officers also spoke to Jordan and determined he was fine.

The force said Jordan left the home wearing his service medals and joined a group of veterans heading to France by bus.

There really is nothing better than a cantankerous old guy who just doesn’t give a shit what you think or care about your rules. Reminds me of this Patton Oswalt skit.

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Previous Post: « Umm… So That Happened in France
Next Post: Once Again, the Onion Was There First »

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  1. 1.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    I have seen this story in a few places today, and I love it harder every time! This guy is just a nice old honey badger, and I hope the British media turn him into a national hero (they are showing every sign of it so far, so that’s a good thing).

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    The photo at the top of the thread makes me happy. I like it almost as much as the Jump, you FUCKERS! photo, and that’s saying a lot.

    Edit: I love how proud and feisty he looks.

  3. 3.

    Major Major Major Major (formerly J.Ty)

    June 6, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    That is AWESOME!

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Nursing home: Um, we didn’t say he couldn’t go. mumble mumble

  5. 5.

    Baud

    June 6, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    You can photoshop the two together and really enjoy it.

    I hope the Queen visits this guy.

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    June 6, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    My old man was consumed by rules and would never have broken one. My Uncles Walt and Alex on the other hands…. I don’t think they ever saw a rule they didn’t break. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the only reason neither got kicked out of the Army or the Navy was because they needed the cannon fodder too much.

  7. 7.

    Jacquie

    June 6, 2014 at 7:43 pm

    I love this story SO MUCH. This guy is my new favorite, and the pic at the top is fantastic,

  8. 8.

    Jacquie

    June 6, 2014 at 7:43 pm

    I love this story SO MUCH. This guy is my new favorite, and the pic at the top is fantastic,

  9. 9.

    HRA

    June 6, 2014 at 7:44 pm

    Love this man and the effort he made to go to Normandy. I read his story on BBC moments before I came here and shared it to FB.

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 7:45 pm

    @Baud:

    He needs a knighthood.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 7:47 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Nursing Home: Point of fact, we tried to get him a pass herp de derp.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    June 6, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Sir BadAssALot

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    @Baud: I don’t know if the queen ever visits anyone, but that would be really cool. I find this guy’s spirit really inspiring.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 7:50 pm

    @Baud: If only there was some shorter way for me to say you made me laugh out loud. Again.

  15. 15.

    different-church-lady

    June 6, 2014 at 7:52 pm

    You go guy!

  16. 16.

    pseudonymous in nc

    June 6, 2014 at 7:53 pm

    Former Mayor of Hove (actually), which is what that photo is showing.

    At very least, HMQ ought to invite him to a garden party.

  17. 17.

    maya

    June 6, 2014 at 7:53 pm

    I wonder what he thought of the interpretive dance?

  18. 18.

    scav

    June 6, 2014 at 7:55 pm

    Check him out on the Ferry crossing

  19. 19.

    AxelFoley

    June 6, 2014 at 7:58 pm

    @Baud:

    Please, sir, I require an address in order to send you your internets.

  20. 20.

    shelley

    June 6, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    At very least, HMQ ought to invite him to a garden party.

    You used to get three sandwiches; these days, only two.

  21. 21.

    Violet

    June 6, 2014 at 8:01 pm

    @scav: OMG, that is AWESOME! Look at those gorgeous women hanging on him. Looks like he’s having a great time.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    @scav:

    Prior to embarking, Mr Jordan told ITV News: “I have been here last year and I have been here obviously this time… but if I am still about I shall try next year’s as well.”

    Asked if he would be in trouble when he returned home, he added: “I might be, but I hope not.”

    Ship’s liaison officer Sonia Pittam, who met Mr Jordan on his way to France, said: “I knew he was a game old boy.

    “He certainly has his wits about him, he didn’t say much about the landings, just how pleased he was to be on board and couldn’t believe how everyone was looking after them [veterans] and all the people waving on the route to the harbour entrance.

    “He kept saying, ‘All this for us’.”

    I think I may have a crush on this older gentleman.

    Edit: okay, maybe not a crush. He seems sweet, and quite the gentleman, which reminds me of my dad.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    June 6, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Tho I guess I should mention the time on Okinawa after the war when their co-pilot lost a jeep over a cliff while on a date with a nurse (while they were playing “Whoopie” the jeep went “Whoopsie!”) and they all flew back down to Saipan on a “training mission” so they could steal a jeep and hoist it into the bomb bay for the flight back and turn that one in.

    Those are the kind of “war” stories I heard from my old man. The times their plane got all shot up, or crash landed on Iwo or they were told to bail out over Tokyo Bay, or he climbed into an open bomb bay at 30,000 feet, etc etc…. I didn’t here about them until after the 50 year reunion and the old man couldn’t make it because he was too sick to travel so his crewmates made a video of their reminiscences and sent it to him.

    For some reason, I’ve only watched it once. Not sure why.

  24. 24.

    Violet

    June 6, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    @WaterGirl:
    Also from that article:

    Brighton and Hove police had tweeted: “90 year old veteran reported missing from care home. Turns out they’d said no to him going to #DDay70 but he went anyway #fightingspirit”

  25. 25.

    Ash Can

    June 6, 2014 at 8:05 pm

    The only thing that would have made this story even better is if he and the Queen had sneaked off together after the ceremony to a little local bistro and done shots of calvados for the rest of the afternoon.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    June 6, 2014 at 8:05 pm

    this absolutely rocks!!

    best story of the day!

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 8:10 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    She does, but her personal visits are all very carefully choreographed months and months in advance. More likely that someone like Prince Harry might try to arrange a visit. I can really see this story totally appealing to his own sense of humour, and it would probably be simpler for him to set it up than the Queen (who in any case is really cutting back on her official duties these days).

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 8:13 pm

    @scav:

    Dude.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 8:13 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I will have to get Prince Harry on the phone and put a bug in his ear.

  30. 30.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 8:14 pm

    We knew about this hours ago. Still, he rocks.

  31. 31.

    Sir Laffs-a-Lot

    June 6, 2014 at 8:14 pm

    He and Cole must be related; tell Shawn to make sure JC doesn’t leave wearing his medals.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    @Ash Can:

    I shouldn’t have read that with a mouthful of Pinot noir.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    June 6, 2014 at 8:18 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    But first, we have to get Prince Albert out of that can.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 8:19 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Yes, we did. But somehow I missed the awesome photo earlier today, and that’s when I really connected with the story.

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 8:20 pm

    @Baud: I seriously used to make those phone calls from my house with my friends when I was 13. We thought we were so funny!!!

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 8:21 pm

    @Baud: Let’s not talk of Prince Alberts; this is a family blog.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 8:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    Yup, your comment was one of the several I saw this afternoon about Mr. Jordan. It may even have been the first one i saw, i honestly can’t remember now. A couple of sites put it up on FB, and I assume it has also been trending on the Twitters.

    Cole is sometimes a couple of hours late to these discussions, but it’s all good because now we have a dedicated thread and can talk about things like how cool it would be if Jordan and Her Madge snuck off to a bistro for the afternoon.

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 8:26 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I just mention it as further evidence that Cole doesn’t read his blog.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 8:28 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): In Cole’s defense, he comments a lot more than he used to. I’m always happy to see his name in the comments.

  40. 40.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 8:29 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    We knew that all along. And I figured as much.

  41. 41.

    lamh36

    June 6, 2014 at 8:34 pm

    Reminds me of a story my mom used to tell about my grandmother Beulah (RIP). My mom is the oldest of a total of 10 children. My mom the oldest at 55 and my aunt being the youngest at 45. They all lived in a 4 bedroom, housing complex in NOLA, and as you can guess it was a tight fit.

    So one day my mom and her sibling must have been getting on her nerves. My mom was 16 I think and my youngest aunt was 6 or 7. So they were all running round house driving my maman (say it in NOLA french) crazy. Well she had, had enough. One minute, my momma said “moot” (that’s what we called her) was there and next thing you know she wasn’t. They searched the house and couldn’t find her anywhere in the house. My mom and her siblings went around the neighborhood looking for her and they swear they went door to door

    They had the rest of the neighborhood families in the complex looking for her at least 2 hours, when one of my uncles shouted “there she is!!!”. My uncle Dice was pointing at the local bus that passed in front of the house and there was my maman sitting on the bus. She had gotten so aggravated with them, that she just got on the bus and basically rode back and forward on the same route talking and chatting with the bus driver and other riders.

    My maman told me that she knew they were looking for her but she didn’t care, she needed a break from the crazy and she didn’t want to go too far, so she just rode that bus until she was ready to get off. My mom and siblings still laugh about that til this day.

    I miss my granny.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 8:48 pm

    Holy cow-ski, batman. 10 kids in 10 years. wow.

    Edit: my mom’s mom had 13 pregnancies, but only 7 kids, the rest were stillborn. They were poor folk in Wyoming and I guess that’s how it went back then.

  43. 43.

    MattR

    June 6, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: @WaterGirl: Every now and again, the Queen makes an unexpected visit.

  44. 44.

    lamh36

    June 6, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    @WaterGirl: My mother is the oldest, 55. Next sibling, my aunt, 54. Next siblings a set of boy girl twins, next sibling a boy, next sibling, a 2nd set of 2 twin boys born on same day as 1 set of girl/boy twins just 1 year later, next sibling a boy, then one final set of boy/girl twins.

    So in total: 4 single births, 3 twin births (2 boy/girl combo, 1 boy/boy combo who share a birthday with 1 set of boy/girl twins)

    Got that… ;-)

  45. 45.

    Lurking Canadian

    June 6, 2014 at 9:08 pm

    The entire Wehrmacht couldn’t keep this guy off the beach. Of course a few overworked nursing home aides aren’t going to manage.

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 9:08 pm

    @lamh36: I would have been on a bus heading out of town, not back and forth.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    June 6, 2014 at 9:10 pm

    Maddow is reporting this story.

    she showed a picture of him on the way back to England, surrounded by young women on the ferry!

    LOL

  48. 48.

    lamh36

    June 6, 2014 at 9:17 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): lol. Oh she always said, if she could have she just might have. She used to say they was lucky they were poor, cause if she had any money, she’d have jumped ship long ago…lol.

    I really do miss my gran

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 9:23 pm

    @lamh36: 3 sets of twins. wow, just wow. I’m sorry you miss her, but at least you had her for awhile!

  50. 50.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 9:29 pm

    @lamh36: I miss both of mine. They were completely different, but both awesome in their own ways. If I had do sum up one the main differences between them, I would do it this way: If I went on a multi-state killing spree and ashed one them to hide me, he each would have said yes and done it. They would have had different thoughts as they did so: one would have thought, “Well, he is a vicious murderer but he is my grand son and I love him.”; the other would have thought, “They obviously needed killing or he wouldn’t have done it.”

    ETA: I was lucky that all of my grandparents lived long enough that I knew then as an adult. I didn’t lose the first until I was 26 and I lost the last when I was 48.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 9:43 pm

    @MattR:

    I do remember that story. It was a couple of years ago, and must have been a delightful surprise to the young couple.

    Still, I have to wonder how truly spontaneous it was from the Queen’s perspective. I just have a sense that her secretaries and schedulers and ladies-in-waiting would have vetted everything pretty carefully before HM went walkabout.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 9:50 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    I was also lucky that way. My maternal grandmother was 94 when she died (I was 44, and had grown up in the same household as her) (as she, but that just sounds stupid, so I’m going with as her), and my father’ smother was just shy of her 99th birthday; I was 45 or 46. Didn’t know her as well — I was pretty little when she left Chicago to join my father in Atlanta, and by the time I moved down here, she was, if not in full-blown dementia, at least getting pretty wispy around the edges. But I loved them both and I wish they were still around.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 9:56 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hell, I knew two of my great grandmothers one of whom was the daughter of a Civil War vet. It always amazes me that I, who was born in 1964, knew someone who knew someone who fought in a war 100 years before I was born.

  54. 54.

    mainmata

    June 6, 2014 at 10:18 pm

    Bill Maher totally (and legitimately) smacked down the total dweeb Ralph Reed in his own words. Lovely.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 10:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    My paternal great-grandfather, who died when I was maybe 4, fought in both the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. According to family lore, he lied about his age both times. I remember him vaguely.

    I also remember my maternal great-grandfather, but oddly, I have no idea whether he fought in any wars for which he might have been eligible. He was a railroad man all his life, and it may be that he was in some kind of necessary industry and was exempt. I just don’t know.

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 10:32 pm

    Just caught the last of Rachel (radio only), and she revisited the Bernard Jordan story with an update on his return journey and the four lovely attendants.

    Then I switched over to BBC and they are also making a deal of it. I think this gentleman is going to thoroughly enjoy his 15 minutes of fame, and well-deserved!

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 10:33 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Well, we are a generation apart, so your experiences line up pretty well with mine.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 10:37 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: More power to him. A couple of years ago, some guy in his late 80s shot up the Holocaust Museum in DC and my grandmother, who was around the guy’s age at the time, abhorred what he had done but also had a perverse pride in the fact that a guy her age was capable of doing it.

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 6, 2014 at 11:07 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    I did only the most desultory of math checks, but you are quite right, the respective dates align very nicely.

    (So, you’re coming up on your 50th in a couple of months, eh? Hmmmmm…)

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 6, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yep. And do I care? Neither 30 nor 40 bothered me, so I don’t expect 50 to do so. I know what year I was born, and I can do simple arithmetic. A friend and mentor from years ago used to say, “You are only young once,but you can be immature forever.”

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    June 6, 2014 at 11:21 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Did you see that MomSense may have a line on your Rose song? It’s the last comment in the “so that happened” thread.

    It would be so cool if she found that for you.

  62. 62.

    Steeplejack

    June 7, 2014 at 12:19 am

    @WaterGirl:

    I think I found the song.

  63. 63.

    Fred

    June 7, 2014 at 3:26 am

    The gentleman probably told someone he was going to France for D-Day and they nodded, smiled and said, “Mm hmm, that’s nice.”

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    June 7, 2014 at 7:44 am

    @Steeplejack: Of course you did! Steeplejack, our finder of all things! That’s some google fu you have.

  65. 65.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    June 7, 2014 at 7:49 am

    Kinda looks like James Whitmore.

  66. 66.

    Steeplejack

    June 7, 2014 at 10:30 am

    @WaterGirl:

    I found the sheet music!

  67. 67.

    WaterGirl

    June 7, 2014 at 6:02 pm

    @Steeplejack: I’m sure you’ll never see this, but yippee! I wonder if SiubhanDuinne knows yet.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    June 7, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I bookmarked the link and will be on the lookout for her.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. British WWII Vet Escapes Nursing Home, Heads To D-Day Anniversary Ceremonies says:
    June 7, 2014 at 7:00 am

    […] H/T: John Cole […]

  2. The Coming End Of Checks says:
    June 8, 2014 at 9:00 am

    […] Matt Phillips at The Atlantic notes that the use of checks has declined precipitously in the last decade or so: […]

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