{"id":339925,"date":"2025-12-28T21:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T21:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/339925\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T21:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T21:51:11","slug":"caddington-ww2-veteran-douglas-baldwin-dies-aged-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/339925\/","title":{"rendered":"Caddington WW2 veteran Douglas Baldwin dies aged 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

The Taxi Charity For Military Veterans said it would remember Douglas Baldwin with “gratitude and respect”<\/p>\n

A World War Two veteran who fought in Normandy as a teenager before becoming a prisoner of war has died at the age of 100, a charity said.<\/p>\n

Douglas Baldwin, from Caddington, Bedfordshire, served with the 6th Battalion of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB).<\/p>\n

Aged just 18 he landed in northern France in June 1944, three weeks after D-Day. Later captured by German forces, he was made to work in coal mines during nine months in multiple Stalag camps.<\/p>\n

The Taxi Charity For Military Veterans, which had helped Mr Baldwin make many trips to Normandy, said it was “saddened” to hear of his death.<\/p>\n

“We honour Doug’s remarkable life, courage, and sacrifice, and we remember him with gratitude and respect,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Douglas Baldwin fought in Normandy when he was just 18<\/p>\n

One of seven children, Mr Baldwin, who had celebrated his 100th birthday in November<\/a>, grew up in Sheerness, Kent.<\/p>\n

During an interview in 2024, he said he remembered “the drone of engines” as enemy bombers flew up the Thames estuary.<\/p>\n

He enlisted for army training at Colchester and was kept in reserve before being sent to Normandy on a landing craft on 25 June 1944.<\/p>\n

Mr Baldwin said: “All the way over I was quite calm. It was still an adventure to me.”<\/p>\n

He said many people waved and blew him kisses as he left British shores, adding: “I felt like a hero before I even landed in Normandy.”<\/p>\n

He moved with his regiment through northern France after landing, and said: “There were many occasions where there was nobody to tell you what to do. You had to think for yourself.<\/p>\n

“There was very little difference between being brave or stupidity.”<\/p>\n

Mr Baldwin was captured alone in the village of Estry on 8 August that year, after taking cover from German fire in a disused house and being stunned by a nearby explosion.<\/p>\n

He said he was taken to a car with a gun pointed at his head before eventually being transported to Germany in a railway truck, arriving at Stalag XII-A on 28 August.<\/p>\n

He spent time in several camps before liberation by Allied forces, before returning home via Paris on 1 May 1945 – one week before VE Day.<\/p>\n

\"KOSBKOSB<\/p>\n

Mr Baldwin celebrated his 100th birthday in November with his family<\/p>\n

Despite his previous hardships, Mr Baldwin went back to Germany after the war ended with the Royal Scots Fusiliers to serve in the Army of Occupation.<\/p>\n

He later relocated to the Luton area for work and described himself as a “jack of all trades, master of none”, working in a variety of jobs including at Vauxhall and Luton Airport.<\/p>\n

He visited Normandy many times through trips organised by the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, and received the L\u00e9gion d’honneur, France’s highest military honour, in 2021 in recognition of his service.<\/p>\n

Asked in 2024 what the secret was to a good life, Mr Baldwin said: “Freedom to do what you want.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PA Media The Taxi Charity For Military Veterans said it would remember Douglas Baldwin with “gratitude and respect”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-339925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}