A remarkable 103-year-old World War II veteran and the last surviving member of the elite Raiding Support Regiment has celebrated his birthday live on GB News.John Morris, who served in multiple major campaigns during WWII, was honoured with a special visit arranged by friends and supporters.Morris joined the army at just 17 years old, serving first in the Battle of Britain before being deployed to North Africa.The veteran was accompanied by his friend Matthew Hellyer, who described Morris as "an absolute legend" and "World War Two hero".Speaking from the studio, Morris quipped "I feel 150 at the moment" when asked about reaching his remarkable age.WATCH THE CLIP ABOVE FOR MORE
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00:00John, I believe, is the oldest of the Chelsea pensioners and his father fought at both the Somme and Ypres.
00:07Well, the London Hells Angels and MCs have shown their respect by taking John on their bikes to the GB News studios early on as a special birthday gift to him.
00:19There we are. There is the man. There is the legend.
00:21And I'm proud to say he joins me now in the studio at GB News with his friend and my friend, and that is the SS hero, Matthew Hellyer, to celebrate an extraordinary life.
00:33Gentlemen, first of all, may I shake the hand of a legend.
00:37What an absolute pleasure it is to have you in the studio, John Morris.
00:40Matthew Hellyer also, mate. Thanks for setting this up.
00:43Let's start with you, Matthew. How do you introduce a legend like this?
00:46Well, you know the fella, so over to you.
00:48Easy. This man is an absolute legend. World War II hero, the only man surviving from his regiment, the Raiding Sport Regiment, which was a special forces regiment in World War II.
00:59John joined the army at 17 years old, fought in the Battle of Britain before being shipped over to North Africa,
01:05fought all the way through North Africa before volunteering for special forces and was dropped after fighting at Casino,
01:12then dropped into Montenegro, the Balkans, and trained Tito's forces and was demobbed in 1944.
01:20This man's got a massive, a massive war record and much respect to John. One of my best friends.
01:30John, there you go. That's your intro. You've been through all of that.
01:33You've literally been through endless wars and you've made it. You've made it to 103 years young.
01:41John Morris, how does that feel?
01:43Well, I feel 150 at the moment.
01:48I've had a very tiring day.
01:51No, I've had a wonderful day, thanks to Matt and Pilgrim Bandits, because they've been fantastic.
01:57They hijacked me and got me here with the help of the Sun newspaper, and Matt has been a complete great friend of mine ever since, him and Jim Kearney.
02:09And the Sun newspaper also helped pay me to come here, travelling business class, and the Australian Army gave me a corporal to accompany me to make sure I didn't go astray.
02:25I thought I was going to Hawaii, but they hijacked me.
02:31And talk us about, this is your SAS, Barry Wright.
02:35This is John's Raiding Support Regiment, one of the famous wartime special forces.
02:40That is the Raiding Support Regiment.
02:42Wow.
02:42I'm the last remaining member of this group.
02:46And tell us, if you can, John, about some of those.
02:48I mean, we hear so often, I don't like to talk about the war, but, John, people really love to hear about it, because we have to try and keep the memories of the legends of our finest generation alive.
02:58Tell us about some of the scrapes you got into, what you remember from your time.
03:01What do you want, I don't know?
03:02Some of the scrapes you got into, some of the heroic, valiant efforts you were involved in.
03:08Sorry?
03:09Tell us about some of your scraps in the war.
03:11Have I?
03:12Tell us about some of your scraps in the war.
03:14How did I start the war?
03:15No.
03:15What about the time when you were an anti-aircraft gun and you shot the chimney, John?
03:20That's a good story.
03:21Oh, that's an interesting one, yeah.
03:21Yeah.
03:22When we first started the war, we were very low on armour.
03:26In fact, they gave us, all we had was a pickaxe handle.
03:31Yeah.
03:32No rifles were available, because Dunkirk had just happened.
03:36And I joined the 89th Regiment.
03:39Unfortunately, they went overseas, so I had to transfer to the Essex Heavy Air Force Regiment.
03:47And on the Battle of Britain from the beginning, which is in July to October 1940,
03:55and I was on the mobile guns defending London, splitting up the aircraft going over.
04:02I was stationed for a while at Sittingbourne on the old 3-inch guns.
04:07They were very old, antiquated pre-war guns.
04:11And I was a gun layer.
04:13We sometimes spent 12 to 14 hours on the guns with non-stop,
04:16because there's hundreds of German aircraft coming over.
04:21The job of the, our job was actually to split up the aircraft so the actual fighters would get at them.
04:27So, right from July to October, sometimes we spent 12 to 14 hours sleeping on the guns.
04:36And I was only 17 years old.
04:40Amazing.
04:41John, then parachuting in, you know, about Montenegro and the Balkans, John,
04:45when you were training Tito's forces, that's an amazing story.
04:49That's right.
04:49But when we went to, I went on the, after the Bletsch, I went to Western Supermere,
05:01where the bombing was taken, placed up in the Clyde, because of the bombing in the Clyde.
05:07And after that, I went on Operation Torch.
05:14There was actually 107,000 troops going on that, 200,000 ships.
05:21That was on November the 8th, 1942, with the American First Army.
05:30When we arrived at Algiers, the French started firing at us.
05:35They were siding with the Germans.
05:37So, we actually, the British sunk two battleships, and they sunk two of ours, I think, the French.
05:50And there was 107,000 British and American troops.
05:55There was 200, actually, boats took part in the operation.
06:01There was actually three battleships, five aircraft carriers, seven cruisers, and 38 destroyers took part in the raid on North Africa in Algiers.
06:21On the way to, they sent us down, because we didn't have any guns, our boat carrying the guns was torpedoed.
06:28So, they sent us down to Bowen, waiting for reinforcements to come on.
06:35And, obviously, we were very bored stiff at the time.
06:41They were shut up and short.
06:44I was a brain gun.
06:45I'd say, put me on top of this plattoff group, and I had to fire at any low-flying aircraft right above the port of Bowen.
06:52So, after a few months there, I got bored stiff, and I got hepatitis and sent to a hospital.
07:02And when I came out of the hospital, the Rating Support Regiment came around asking for volunteers, and I volunteered.
07:12Meantime, the Rating Support Regiment, which you can see is a badge of the Rating Support Regiment.
07:22I'm the last remaining member of that one at the moment.
07:25The rest are all gone.
07:26And you're 103 today.
07:27I think we've got some pictures of you arriving.
07:30A spectacular arrival today.
07:32You've got a motorbike.
07:33It's fantastic.
07:34So, let's put those pictures up on screen, if we can.
07:37And, Matthew, talk to us about...
07:38Oops, there we go.
07:39The balloons have got a mine of their own.
07:40Look at this.
07:41So, there you are.
07:42You've got a tin hat on.
07:44You're going along.
07:45That's you there, Matt.
07:45Talk us through where you've come from and about this journey.
07:47We picked John up from the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
07:50He had an entourage of motorbikes from the Hells Angels and the motorbike clubs of London.
07:56They all wanted to be part of this and show how patriotic they are, show John the respect.
08:01And they took us through the streets of London and delivered us to the wonderful Westminster Arms opposite the studios here.
08:07John's had a fantastic time.
08:10You know, he's had a brilliant present, a brilliant day so far.
08:13And it's just beginning, John.
08:14You've still got a couple more drinks and a few more meals and parties to go yet, I think.
08:19And I'm hoping, actually, John, you'll be around at 6 o'clock.
08:23So, I knock off.
08:24I'd love to buy you a pint over the way.
08:25Can I please buy you a drink?
08:27Pardon?
08:27Can I please buy you a drink after the show?
08:29If I just drink some tonic water.
08:31That's fine, mate.
08:32Whatever you're drinking, I'm buying.
08:34On a serious point, fantastic images we've got.
08:36All right.
08:37Let's go.