Glasgow Helping Heroes helps veteran celebrate his 100th birthday!

14 January 2021

Brendan Marron is a veteran in a care home in Glasgow. At the moment his daughter Aileen is not allowed to visit; this made Aileen start to think outside the box of how to celebrate and mark his 100th birthday just before Christmas.

Aileen reached out to Forcesline, our free and confidential telephone and online help service, and they and SSAFA were more than happy to rise to task and bring joy to Brendan’s day.

SSAFA’s Controller, Sir Andrew Gregory, wrote a personal letter after Aileen divulged a little about Brendan’s life. Brendan was in the Fleet Air Arm in the Navy. During World War Two he wrote limericks and songs that were always humorous and showed off his cheeky personality. His wartime memories are still strong, and he remembers slipping off to Paris with a friend after the city's liberation.

After the war, Brendan was a hotel manager in both Dundee and Glasgow, which suited him as he is extremely sociable.

SSAFA’s Glasgow's Helping Heroes asked a wonderful local, Marion from Fandabydozy Cakes, to create personalised cupcakes. Marion decorated cakes with several images to reflect different parts of Brendan’s service and of course his age, and she kindly donated these for free. The care home took lovely photos of the occasion and informed the family he ate three of the cupcakes himself that day.  You can check out Fandabydozy's Facebook page here.

Brendan has dementia and is registered as blind. Despite this he is able to take part in the social life in his care home and remembers his family who although he misses just now, is aware they cannot visit due to Covid-19.

Aileen, Brendan’s daughter said: “We are extremely grateful to SSAFA for making Brendan’s day so special.”

SSAFA’s Glasgow’s Helping Heroes hope to document Brendan’s songs and limericks as soon as possible.