Vale of Belvoir wartime hero Dennis celebrates 100th birthday
A man who helped save the life of a seriously injured airman after his plane crashed near Melton during the Second World War has celebrated his 100th birthday. Dennis Kirk was serenaded by villagers as they gathered in the garden of his home at Plungar to sing happy birthday accompanied by a lone trumpeter. It was a lovely moment for Dennis and his 93-year-old wife, Joan, and with the need to maintain social distancing on his special day he had a video conferencing call with family members. He retains remarkably vivid memories from his life stretching back to the 1920s and to that harrowing moment when he came to the aid of the surviving airman in that wartime RAF aircraft crash in 1943. Dennis, who has received nearly 100 birthday cards including the traditional one from The Queen, continues to mow his own large garden and puts his longevity down to a healthy life spent mainly doing farmwork in the open air.