A World War Two hero who survived D-Day but said it ‘wasn’t worth it’ because of the state of the country has died aged 101.
Alec Penstone, from Shanklin, Isle of Wight, dedicated his whole life to military service and patriotism.
He was just 15 years old when the war broke out, but bravely signed up as soon as he was old enough to fight.
He volunteered as a part-time air raid messenger during the Blitz, where he helped pull victims from bombed buildings.
Mr Penstone joined the Navy in 1943 as part of a promise to his father that he would not serve in the trenches following the horrors that he witnessed in World War One.
He trained in submarine detection before serving with distinction in the Arctic Convoys to Russia aboard HMS Campania.
In June 1944, he was aboard the same ship where he played a vital role in D-Day, constantly on watch and listening out for torpedoes, mines and U-boats.
He continued to serve his country and military causes, becoming the country’s oldest poppy seller aged 100.
He died at Mountbatten Hospice in Newport on Thursday, surrounded by those closest to him.
World War Two veteran and D-Day hero Alec Penstone has died at the age of 101
Mr Penstone, pictured aged 20 in 1945, served in the Royal Navy throughout World War Two as a young man
Last year, Mr Penstone shocked the country when he appeared on national television and said the sacrifice made by the lost men of his generation ‘wasn’t worth’ what had become of the country decades later, as he said the UK ‘has gone to rack and ruin’.
‘What we fought for was our freedom, but now it’s a darn sight worse than when I fought for it,’ he told presenters Kate Garraway and Adil Ray on Good Morning Britain.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the veteran was filled with anguish and anger about what he sees as Britain’s decline.
‘I don’t know what the hell we fought for and [why we] lost so many wonderful men. The country has gone to rack and ruin,’ the grandfather-of-two continued.
‘There are too many people with their fingers in the till. Faith in our country was the best thing [when he was young].
‘But nowadays there’s too many people that just want their own little corner and bugger everybody else.’
Rather than his anguish being fuelled by any kind of hostility, Alec stresses: ‘I’m not against foreigners coming into the country provided they behave themselves.’
Mr Penstone left the hosts ‘mortified’ with his saddening admission about the state of the country.
He told viewers: ‘My message is, I can see in my mind’s eye those rows and rows of white stones and all the hundreds of my friends who gave their lives, for what? The country of today?
‘No, I’m sorry – but the sacrifice wasn’t worth the result of what it is now.’
When he was asked to clarify what he meant by Mr Ray, he continued: ‘What we fought for was our freedom, but now it’s a darn sight worse than when I fought for it.’
The veteran did not specify the factors he believes are responsible for Britain’s decline.
Last year, the veteran stunned millions when he said the sacrifice made in the war ‘was not worth it’
Mr Penstone receives a kiss from two members of the D-Day darlings, a wartime-themed song and dance group
Alec (pictured with Rod Stewart) held a proud record as the country’s oldest poppy seller, continuing to work up until his death
Despite his decorated military career, Mr Penstone always remained remarkably humble about his actions serving the country and insisted he wasn’t a hero.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘The heroes are all the dead ones. The heroes are the ones we left in the Arctic and on the Normandy beaches.
Born in the East End of London in 1925, Mr Penstone was a proud Cockney.
His father was severely wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of the Somme in the First World War and died a week before Alec turned 14, in April 1939.
His father’s experience made his mother nervous about him taking up a front-line role during the war.
When he initially signed up for military service, he first signed up for the Merchant Navy.
‘All they would offer me was engine room and I wanted deck hand. I even volunteered to be a cook. They said no,’ he said.
‘In the end they said if you are so eager to go to sea then go to Edgware and join the real navy.
‘So I did, much to my mother’s disgust. She said, ‘Your father would turn in his grave if he knew what you were doing!”
After finishing his training in December 1943, Alec was assigned to serve on submarines.
Later, he moved to escort aircraft carrier HMS Campania. It was on that ship that he took part in the Arctic Convoys to Russia.
Mr Penstone said the missions aboard the vessel were ‘hell on earth’.
The convoys which passed close to German-occupied Norway, were among the most hazardous missions of the war and were recognised as such by Winston Churchill.
For his service in the Arctic, he received the Russian Ushakov bravery medal.
But, disgusted by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Alec refused to wear it.
‘The Russian people are marvellous,’ he said. ‘I was friends with many of them. But their leader is worse than an animal.’
Mr Penstone pictured after a UK veterans parade in Arromanches-les-Bains on June 6, 2024, as part of the ‘D-Day’ commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the World War Two Allied landings in Normandy.
He served on HMS Campania, which led the Arctic Convoys to Russia, described as some of the most hazardous missions of the war
The Campania went on to play a vital role in the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.
Mr Penstone spent his time three decks down on constant action station and on-watch listening out for torpedoes, mines and U-boats.
Anchored off the Isle of Wight before the invasion, he recalled seeing The Needles and The Solent ‘covered in ships’ in a sight that marked the scale of the operation to come.
Typically, Mr Penstone downplayed his own contribution. ‘I remember very little about D-Day because I was down on the action stations. But I could hear what was going on,’ he said.
After a week off the coast of Normandy, he and HMS Campania returned to their duties in the Arctic and made 10 more crossings, unaware that the war was coming to an end.
He told the British Legion: ‘Between convoys we used to poke into all the Norwegian fjords, did what we called shipping strikes with the swordfish torpedo planes.
‘We were off doing that, we had no inkling at all that the war was finishing.’
It was only when it came on the news, on the radio, and I couldn’t believe it.
‘As a matter of fact, it got a bit naughty because somebody got the ship’s bell and was playing football with it on the flight deck, which didn’t go down very well with the skipper.’
After VE Day, he returned to the UK to his fiancée Gladys. But his stay was short-lived and he was drafted to help in the war effort still waging in the Far East.
After securing a few extra days’ leave, the couple married on 21 July 1945 two days before Mr Penstone returned to duty.
He recalled: ‘We got married on the Saturday at 2 o’clock, and at 7 o’clock on the Monday morning I said goodbye to her.’
Mr Penstone served for a further 14 months after the war ended before he was finally demobbed in September 1946.
He was awarded the Legion of Honour, the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, for his service on D-Day.
After the war, Alec and Gladys initially lived with her parents in Tottenham before getting their own flat.
Their daughter, Jacqueline, was born in 1962.
Mr Penstone later worked as an electrician and for a time ran his own business before moving his family to Stanmore in Middlesex and then Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.
A move to Burton-on-Trent – which became home for 20 years – followed in 1989.
Then, in 2009, Alec and Gladys settled on the Isle of Wight.
Mr Penstone pictured with his late wife Gladys on their 70th wedding anniversary in 2015
Alec and his wife Gladys pictured with their family and friends on their wedding day on July 21, 1945
The veteran alongside Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty at a D-Day event in 2024
As a couple, they spent their retirement giving talks in schools about their wartime experience.
In March 2022, his beloved wife died aged 96. Her passing came just months before their 77th wedding anniversary.
Mr Penstone always said she was his soulmate and lifelong dancing partner.
Speaking to The Mail last year, he mentioned how her ashes rested on the mantelpiece of his home, where he still lived independently despite being blind.
He said: ‘She gets onto me at nighttime asking, “when are you coming to join me?”.
‘I say, “Not yet love. Sorry.”‘
Revealing the secret to their happy marriage, he added: ‘We always had an agreement we would never go to sleep on an argument. One or both of us would always eat humble pie.’
In 2024, he was among the contingent of veterans who returned to Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France.
It was in France that he met King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Mr Penstone met the late Queen Elizabeth II more than once and said King Charles told him ‘not to do anything silly’ before he turned 100.
He added: ‘I’m so lucky. I don’t know why I’m spared. I never expected to be 21 let alone 100. They say the devil looks after his own.’
Mr Penstone remained a passionate advocate for remembrance and on several occasions was part of the parade of veterans who form the heart of the Remembrance Sunday service at the London monument each year.
He shared his story through his autobiography, entitled My Ten and a Half Arctic Convoys: and my Life and Times.
Even after almost completely losing his sight, his memories of D-Day and the Arctic Convoys remained vivid and he continued to honour those who never returned.
