WWII Veteran Celebrates 101st Birthday with Family at Surbiton Care Home

An Air Force veteran has celebrated her 101st birthday at Royal Star & Garter in Surbiton.

Phyllis Hales was visited by her children, grandchildren and friends, and later enjoyed a tea party with other residents at the care home, on Friday 30 June.

Phyllis has been a resident at Royal Star & Garter since 2017. She was born in London in 1922 and did clerical work at a bookbinders before joining the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1942, at the age of 19. She continued doing clerical work while serving in the military, and following the war, was stationed for six months in Belgium and Germany. She demobbed in 1946, before working for British European Airways, and later as a headmaster’s secretary.

She said: “I’ve had a lovely day. It was nice to see family, and I very much enjoyed my birthday tea party that the Home arranged for me.”