Quiet 75th birthday for Codsall woman born on VE Day
Her mother jokingly blamed her that she prevented her from joining the VE Day celebrations in 1945. And now VE Day baby Lynda Jones has had her 75th birthday put on hold by the coronavirus.
Lynda, who lives in Codsall, had been planning a big celebration with her family today to mark the joint occasion of her big birthday with the 75th anniversary of the triumph over Nazi Germany.
But because of the coronavirus lockdown, she will be spending a quiet day at home. It is the second time she has had to cancel one of her major milestone birthday celebrations – for her 70th birthday party had to be cancelled due to a stay at New Cross Hospital.
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Lynda said she had been told she was born about the same time Winston Churchill was making his victory speech from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
"I was born late, and I remember my mum saying to me that had I been born the afternoon before, she could have been out celebrating with her friends," she said.
"I said I was waiting for the siren to say the war was over."
Lynda said she was always very aware of the significance of her birthday, as her farmer William Warne was a flying officer in the RAF, and her mother served as a truck driver in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
She said her father, who was stationed abroad during the birth, made an unauthorised flight home to see his new-born daughter.
"My dad was in Brussels when I was born, and he got a navigator to fly over to see me, and then he flew straight back," said Lynda.
Lynda added she still had her father's RAF uniform, which she wore on her 50th birthday in 1995.
She has two daughters, Debbie, 47, and Lorna, 44, and a grandson Sami, 16.
Lorna said it was a big disappointment that the family would not be able to join the party to celebrate Lynda's big day, and also to honour their parents' role in the war.
"We have not seen mum for over six weeks now, as she has been isolating," she said.
"And now we can't get dressed up in our 40s gear and sing wartime songs as we had hoped, and she will be spending her birthday pretty much alone."
