A DOUBLE celebration was held for World War Two veteran George Lewis, of Wedlakes, Watchet, as he reached 100 years of age last week.

A family party was held in Otter Garden Centre, Norton Fitzwarren, on Tuesday (January 6) followed by a party in the Watchet Royal British Legion (RBL) Club on Saturday which was attended by a wider group of friends.

Mr Lewis made headlines in 2024 when he received his war service medals nearly 80 years on from leaving the Army.

The medals had gone missing at the end of the war and never reached him, but the matter was put right when neighbour Val Norman heard about it and contacted her brother, who served in the same Royal Tank Regiment as Mr Lewis.

A formal event was arranged and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Somerset Brigadier Richard Toomey presented Mr Lewis with the War Medal 1939-1945 and the France and Germany Star.

Two years on, and Mr Lewis has now received his Centurion membership of the Royal British Legion which excuses him from paying subscriptions.

Mr Lewis moved from North Devon to live in Watchet in 2012 with his daughter Liz, who looks after him, to be closer to some of his family.

His brother and sister-in-law George and Anne live in Minehead, and son and daughter-in-law Ian and Sharon live near Taunton.

They were among family members who helped celebrate Mr Lewis’s centenary birthday, along with sons Peter, who lives near Exeter, and Simon, who lives in Andover, and their wives Charmaine and Hazel, respectively, as well as his other daughter Stephana, who lives in London.

The RBL club party was attended by a great-granddaughter, now grown up, whom Mr Lewis had never before met, as well as Watchet Mayor Cllr Loretta Whetlor along with other legion members and friends.

Liz told the Free Press: “We had a lovely time, it was a very, very nice meal and a very pleasant afternoon.

“George was very happy and cheerful and in good spirits.

“He thoroughly enjoyed himself.”

Mr Lewis joined the Army a month after his 18th birthday and saw action during the war in Belgium and Holland through to Germany and the end of hostilities in 1945.

After being demobbed in 1947 he lived in Hounslow, London, and still recalls how he walked the entire length of the Great West Road looking for work in one its many factories.

Mr Lewis eventually managed to find a job with a friend as a window cleaner during the day, starting at 5.30 am, and then worked a four-hour chocolate factory shift in the evening, something he did for 11 years.

He later moved on to work as a driver for Heathrow Airport and worked his way up to become transport manager, retiring after 22 years there.

Mr Lewis’s wife Phyllis, who had been seriously ill and bed-ridden for a number of years, died in 1980 after 37 years of marriage.

Longevity runs in the family as his mother lived to the age of 103 years.