A Jewish veteran from London prepares to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings

By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A Jewish veteran is preparing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Pvt. Mervyn Kersh was summoned by his commanding officer and threatened with arrest even as he prepared to embark for the battlefields of Normandy eight decades ago. The officer demanded to know why Kersh had refused to eat his army rations of canned beef and vegetables and was subsisting only on canned peaches. Kersh was 19 at the time and he said that he was Jewish and “didn’t eat anything that wasn’t kosher as far as I could help it.” Kersh is now 99 and will return to France next week for the ceremonies.