Overview
- The British Normandy Memorial announced on Sunday that Ken Hay had died at 101 and offered condolences to his sons Chris and Jeremy and the wider family.
- Hay served with the 4th Dorset infantry regiment, landed at Courseulles‑sur‑Mer shortly after D‑Day, was captured on a night patrol in July 1944 and sent to work in a coal mine in Zabrze, Poland.
- As Soviet forces advanced he endured a roughly three‑month march of about 1,000 miles with other prisoners, was liberated by American troops and returned to the UK via Reims on 4 May 1945.
- After the war he received an MBE and France’s Legion d’Honneur and for decades visited British schools to give talks, earning the nickname 'Grandad Ken' for his work with children.
- His passing highlights the fading number of direct D‑Day witnesses and underlines the role veterans and memorials play in keeping that first‑hand history alive for new generations.