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Black Country WW2 veteran celebrates 102nd birthday

A former corporal who fought during the Second World War has celebrated his 102nd birthday.

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Corporal David Corfield with his service medals

Cpl David William Corfield, who served in the 1st Herefordshire Regiment, reached the milestone on Monday.

Cpl Corfield, from Greets Green in West Bromwich, was also attached to the 11th Armoured Division for specialist training for six weeks.

He received his call up on January 17, 1940 – and was in France six weeks later.

The now-102-year-old was tasked with scouting the location of railway lines and bridges – to mark on a map to be blown up.

David Corfield during the Second World War

But his working life started at Wellington Tube Works, Great Bridge, after leaving school aged 15.

He handled the paperwork side of the business – handling the accounts – before he received his call up papers at the age of 22.

His son, Alan Corfield, said: "He went then to Ireland to have six weeks training, and more or less straight after he was recruited in the 1st Herefordshire Regiment.

"He was sent out into France and he spent from 1940 to 1946 out there.

"He used to go around when he was out there with maps of France and Belgium looking for railway lines and bridges that were needed to be blown up, so he was moved around France quite a bit doing different things and sending information back.

"He was lucky to come back home.

"He's had a quiet life and worked all his life.

"He loved his army life and being in the army and he used to tell us stories about what they were up to in France – he really loved that."

Alan, aged 75, said his father did a lot of "different things" for the war effort – and always wanted to return to find a Belgian couple who took him in, which he was never able to do.

"He spent a lot of time doing different things – he was not just fighting, he was doing other things to find out what the Germans were up to.

"When he was up in the North East of France, by the Belgium border, a Belgian couple took him and a friend in to a safe house.

"They put him up and kept him safe whilst he was messing about around the border.

"They kept him safe and he always wanted to go back and find them – he kept a photograph of a young woman by a gate."

David was "very close" to becoming a sergeant when the war was ending, but remained "very happy" to be a corporal.

He received service medals at the end of the war.

David returned home in 1943 to marry Freda, Alan's mother, before returning to France – a marriage which lasted 72 years and three days before her death.

"He went straight back out there and nine months later I was born.

"I arrived in 1944 and I didn't see him until 1946 when he came back from the army," the 75-year-old said.

David carried on working at the Wellington Tube Works until he was made redundant, aged 50.

He received a watch from the company and subsequently moved on to work at Hipkins, Great Bridge, doing "more or less" the same thing – handling paperwork and chasing up invoices.

The now-102-year-old retired aged 65, spending his time gardening, before moving into Field House Care Home in Hagley nearly five years ago.

But what is his secret to reaching 102?

Alan said it was down to "sensible eating" and "keeping fit".

He said: "He used to walk a lot to keep fit and he used to ride a bike to work so it was general fitness and keeping active.

"He's quite fit for his age and it's got food and he exercised quite a lot."

The 102-year-old has a 36-year-old granddaughter called Natasha, and two great-grandchildren – Alannah, aged six, and Harry aged nine.

Bebe Tromans, activities co-ordinator at the care home, said: "It was wonderful. It was absolutely wonderful and he got up with the Jessica Rabbit singer – Miss Ruby Red, who sang the old songs, and it was one of those days.

"I think it was just the magnitude of it. We've got this gentleman who is 102 and he actually got up and danced with a big smile on his face."