Second World War veteran Victor Clarke dies aged 100

Former paratrooper Victor Clarke, known affectionately as Nobby to his friends, has been described as a "wonderful", "honest" man whose life was a "big achievement".

He will be celebrated at a funeral at St Benedict Biscop Church in Wombourne – a church where he was a bell-ringer as a teenager – tomorrow at 12.30pm. (wed)

The funeral will be attended by members of the British Legion, paying tribute to his years of service. He died on March 27.

Mr Clarke's niece by marriage, Mary Rogers, said: "Vic's life was a big achievement and his funeral is a celebration of his life – it is sad but you can't be too sad when he's lived to 100.

"He was a wonderful man and he looked after himself really well, so we're celebrating."

Mr Clarke served in three regiments in the Far East, volunteered in the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, and was a paratrooper in the 13th Paratroop division.

He then completed his service as a dispatch rider with the Royal Hampshire Regiment.

When Mr Clarke was in the Paratroop division, he was due to be dropped into enemy territory, but was told to stand down as one of the biggest events of the 20th century was unfolding.

Speaking previously, the paratrooper said: "While in the Paras we were waiting to be dropped over enemy territory and we were suddenly told to stand down.

"We were all kitted out ready to go to the plane but were then told we were not going.

"A few days later we found out that the Hiroshima bomb had been dropped.

"The bomb was a terrible thing but it undoubtedly saved myself and my fellow solders that day."

Mr Clarke also had a strange and daunting encounter with a crocodile in Malaya while acting as a dispatch rider.

He said: "I was riding the motorcycle through a jungle area and saw a bridge ahead and in front of me was a crocodile.

"I do not know who was the most surprised, myself or the crocodile.

"The motorcycle I was riding was making an awful lot of noise and I think it was this that frightened the croc and he went off in the opposite direction."

Victor had a full, active life filled with mountaineering, walking, sailing, camping, and flying.

The veteran had previously said that the secret to a long and happy life was "always being an honest man".

He also said that he enjoyed a tot of Talisker whisky every night before going to bed.

Always retaining his sense of humour, there was a a blow-up crocodile and a crocodile-themed cake – which also featured a dispatch rider – baked by Mary at his 100th birthday, reminding him of his unusual encounter during the war.

Originally born in Lowestoft, Victor travelled around the country as a boy as his father was a chandler working with the fishing industry.

From the age of 13, Mr Clarke was a bell-ringer at St Benedict Biscop Church and rang bells at many churches in the area, including All Saints Church in Trysull and St Barts in Penn.

He was a keen member of the Trysull Bell-Ringers, who gathered for his 100th birthday last year to perform a Quarter Peel of Bells at All Saints Church in Trysull.

During his working life as a young man, he was also a welder with Chubb in Wednesfield and spent time working in Canada.

He returned to his old job when his mother became unwell and officially retired when he was 55.

Mr Clarke celebrated his 100th birthday with an afternoon tea party for family and friends at the sheltered accommodation in Victoria Grove, Wombourne, where he lived since 1985.

The church he frequented as a youth will now be the place where his loved ones say goodbye before he is laid to rest at Gornal Crematorium.

Mr Clarke outlived all of his siblings Archie, Vera, Joan and Doris. His family moved to Wombourne due to his father's troubles in the fishing industry.

Mary added: "He was a very unassuming man, very private and kind and gentle."