Things have changed a lot says war hero Dick, 103

A WAR hero from Henley who turns 103 today (Friday) says “things have changed quite a lot”.

Dick Charlton, who lives at the Chilterns Court Care Centre off York Road, enjoyed a celebratory lunch at the Catherine Wheel in Hart Street with friends and family, including his daughter Shirley Green, who travelled from Wales.

He will have another celebration with his other daughter, Linda Gibson, and her husband David.

Dick, who was born in Wargrave Road in 1920, was called up to fight when the Second World War broke out in September 1939.

He was captured in action in France the following year.

He was put to work in a Nazi prison camp called Stalag VIII-B in the so-called Blechhammer or “sheet metal hammer” region in what is now south-western Poland, near the Czech border.

Towards the end of the war he was forced to go on a gruelling four-month “death march” which claimed many of his comrades’ lives.

In January 1945, the Germans cleared the camp in an attempt to destroy all traces of its existence and delay their captives’ liberation. Mr Charlton was one of more than 80,000 prisoners who were marched westwards, walking up to 40km a day through one of the coldest winters of last century.

From late April, he was kept at a camp just outside Munich, where he had his first wash in about five months and where he remained until it was liberated by American troops in early May.

After being demobbed, he returned to his home town and joined the Harpsden branch of the Royal British Legion.

He lived at his family’s cottage before moving to Luker Avenue with his wife Doris, whom he had married in 1961, and worked as head gardener on the Hennerton estate.

Mr Charlton is thought to be the last surviving member of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry who fought in the war.

He had 10 siblings called William, Fred, Charlie, Jack, Jim, Nellie, Evelyn, Margaret, Joan and Jean.

His brothers also fought in the war and all survived but Mr Charlton is now the only living sibling.

In 2018, Mr Charlton was awarded the Henley town medal for service to the community. For his birthday, pupils at St Mary’s School in St Andrew’s Road presented him with a large birthday card with 103 candles inside.

The children also chatted with him, which Mr Charlton said he really enjoyed.

He received other birthday cards from across the world from friends and people in Canada who had parents and grandparents in the same camp and regiments as him.

One told him about their grandfather, who was captured in the same place as Mr Charlton and spent eight years in the same camp.

He managed to escape the long march with his friend Bob Matthews, from Buckinghamshire.

Mr Charlton said he was happy to turn 103.

“I never thought I’d live this long,” he said. “I worked hard. I was head gardener after my father.

“I was surprised to receive all these cards. I bet I am getting them because I’ve been here all my life.”

He added: “Things have changed quite a lot, haven’t they? It’s not old England now. All these new evacuees are coming in.”

Mrs Gibson said she was proud of her father. He husband added: “He has received cards from people he’s never heard of. It’s just unbelievable really.”