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Monty, 102, recalls baking bread for Churchill

Roy S Crowshaw A black and white photograph of Monty Major thought to be taken in 1942. Monty is pictured as a young man, with a smile on his face. He is wearing his Army uniform, including a shirt, tie and woollen overcoat.Roy S Crowshaw
Harold Major, known as Monty, was called up to serve in the Army in 1942

Harold Major, known as Monty, was 22 years old and in the north of Germany with the British Army when German forces surrendered to the Allies in May 1945.

He was working as a baker in the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), feeding the thousands of troops who made their way from the Normandy beaches, through France, Belgium and Holland and into Germany.

Now 102 years old, Monty recalls the moment in 1944 when Sir Winston Churchill came to visit the mobile bakery he was working in, close to the front line in Normandy.

"He just walked into the bakery and wished us all well," Monty says.

"He stayed quite a while.

"He tried my bread because there was nothing else there.

"He told us all how well we were all doing."

Monty Major sits in his armchair in his front room. He is an elderly man with short white hair. A card with a photograph of Queen Elizabeth, which he received for his 100th birthday, sits on a shelf behind him.
Monty is looking forward to his 103rd birthday later this month

Sitting in the living room of his home in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, Monty struggles to remember VE Day itself but says he was just relieved to make it to the end of the war.

"Well, I was just pleased to get there," he says. "To get demobbed and to go home. I was full of joy."

Monty worked as a baker as soon as he finished school.

He wanted to be a driver when he joined the army but there was a need for trained bakers.

As part of the RASC mobile bakery unit, Monty and his comrades supported the British fighting troops on their advance through Europe.

"There were a lot of bombs dropping around when we were on the move all the time.

"I won't say I wasn't terrified. I was. I was just lucky to get through."

PA Media Sir Winston Churchill stands next to a row of military jeeps on a beach in Normandy. He is wearing a black overcoat, trousers and military hat. He is alongside Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, who is wearing a beret and fur coat.PA Media
Sir Wintson Churchill visited the Normandy beaches on 12 June 1944 to survey the destruction

An unassuming man, Monty says he rarely spoke about what happened during World War Two when he returned home to Mareham-le-Fen in Lincolnshire.

He went straight back to work in the village bakery.

"There were celebrations when we got home, but I went back to the village and we were back to normal. I had the bakery to run," he said.

Roy S Crowshaw A black and white photo of Monty, taken in an unidentified location while serving in Europe. He is a young man in the photograph with short brown hair. He is in his shirt sleeves and in high waisted military trousers. Roy S Crowshaw
Monty was discharged from the army in 1946 and returned to his village bakery

Monty, a regular at his local indoor bowling club in Woodhall Spa, is about to turn 103 on 25 May.

His secret to a long life?

"Well I have a little tipple of whiskey every day," he chuckles.

Monty will be taking part in the veterans parade during the VE Day celebrations in Woodhall Spa on Thursday.

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