101-year-old D-Day veteran honoured at House of Lords

Left to right: Doris Rose, Monty Goldstein, Mervyn Kersh (photo: David Roth)[Missing Credit]

Fox continued: “With the mass of storytelling that has arisen out of the Second World War, it is easy to think of the Allied victory as somehow inevitable, as the happy ending that we expect our heroes to get, whatever obstacles are thrown up against them.

“But there was nothing inevitable about it. The Third Reich may not have lasted Hitler's a thousand years, but its endurance was still foreseeable as Allied troops set off from the coast of southern England just over eight decades ago.

“That in hindsight, there need never have been any doubt, is why men like Mervyn and Monty and women like Doris have our gratitude and admiration – then, today, and always.”

Kersh was presented with two drinking glasses, both bearing the AJEX logo, one of them inscribed: “Thank you for your extraordinary service and unwavering support”.

A friend mentioned to the JC that he would use them for drinking chocolate milk, one of his favourite drinks.

Jewish people served in the Allied forces in numbers far out of proportion to the global population of Jews at the time – around 1.5 million overall, including more than 60,000 in the British Armed Forces.

In total, more than 120,000 Jews have served in the British Armed Forces, indeed most of them during the 20th century.

Jon Tyler, the national chair of AJEX, had a 15-year career as a reservist in the Special Air Service. His father and both his grandfathers served in the British Armed Forces and were members of AJEX.

He said: “In AJEX, we are proudly both Jewish and British – those identities are equally important and are interlinked.”

AJEX national chair Jon Tyler (photo: David Roth)[Missing Credit]

Fiona Palmer, CEO of AJEX, likewise affirmed British Jews’ dual identity. She said: “Today, as we witness the shocking growth in antisemitism and attacks causing fear, injury, and even deaths, it has never been so vital to understand that we are neither victims, nor outsiders.

She continued: “Our Jewish values inform everything we do. We are avowedly British and we are rightly proud of the enormous contribution we’ve made to the British society of which we are an integral part.”

Lord Alex Carlile, who was born to Polish Jewish immigrants and is an honorary patron of AJEX, hosted the event in the House of Lords. 

He said: “We gathered together with and for Jewish service personnel, current and past, emphasising their loyalty, service and our determination to fight antisemitism in the UK.”