OVER £17,000 was raised for a D-Day veteran from Pembroke Dock, after it was found that he was struggling with the cost of living.
Ted Owens, 94, is a former Royal Marine commander. He landed on Sword Beach, Normandy on D-Day, where a shell hit his tank, and 14 pieces of shrapnel are still embedded in his shoulder, chest and back as a result.
He received treatment back in Wales, but then returned to the Western Front for the Battle of Walcheren Island, where the ball bearing from a land mine went into his kneecap.
Having been treated once more, Ted then fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where a sniper’s bullet hit a wall, shattered and went into his windpipe. He couldn’t breathe, and required urgent medical care, but to this day, the fragment of the bullet remains in his windpipe.
The decision to start fundraising came around when Ted took part in a photoshoot organised by portrait photographer Glyn Dewis, from Oxfordshire.
Glyn found that Ted has worries about paying bills. Ted’s Army Pension only equates to roughly £208 a month, with £112 of that paying his rent, and household bills and car insurance on top of that.
This means that very little money is left for essentials such as food, or being able to go out. Not only is this limiting his quality of living, he is also left isolated.
Glyn then decided to set up a GoFundMe page – with a target of £2,500 – for the purpose of improving Ted’s quality of life, by paying his bills for the year so that his money is his own.
The fundraising has now ended with the sum of £17,001, and as a result, they are looking to buy Ted a motorised scooter which would help him to get out more, an orthopaedic mattress to support his back and joints when sleeping, new clothes and getting his military ribbons repaired.
Glyn has said that he plans to give Ted a leather-bound book with all the messages of goodwill from people over the world, so that he can see the support and generosity of those that donated.
Ted spoke about his experiences of the Second World War as part of Glyn’s podcast, He Shoots He Draws, which can be found by going to https://heshootshedraws.com/
