Real life (nearly) 90 year old man who ..... And disappeared

I love this story so much because this man was having no-one tell him what he could and couldn't do, but also because of the striking similarities to the book we recently enjoyed telling the (fictional) story of a 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared. 

In real life, an 89-year-old D-Day veteran who was reported missing from his care home was found at the 70th anniversary commemorations on the sands of Normandy.

Sussex police received a call from a nursing home in Hove at around 7.15pm on Thursday 5th June to say that the pensioner had gone out at 10.30am but had not been seen since. 

It seems he had disappeared! In fact he had followed a well thought out plan:

Hiding his medals under his grey rain coat, he swore his wife Irene to secrecy, picked up two Iceland carrier bags and calmly walked out of The Pines retirement home where they both live, as if he was just off to the shops. Instead, he walked to Brighton railway station, boarded a train for Portsmouth Harbour and bought a one-way Brittany Ferries ticket to Caen, Normandy.

He told only his wife about his plans to join in with D-Day anniversary events. He later returned to a hero's welcome in Portsmouth on a cross-channel ferry. 

Mr Jordan says of his one-man expedition 'I can be very secretive... and when I set my mind to do something, I do it.'

Click here for the full story.