A 100-year-old woman who now teaches yoga is among an ever-shrinking number of veterans with first-hand memories of the war.
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00:00Centenarian Dorothea Baron recalled the wave of relief she felt when she heard World War
00:14II had finally come to an end.
00:1680 years on, the sprightly 100-year-old who now teaches yoga is among an ever-shrinking
00:23number of veterans with first-hand memories of the war.
00:26Exactly how many former World War II service people there are in the UK is unknown.
00:36While experts estimate there are still several thousand, the 80th anniversary of Victory in
00:41Europe Day marked on May 8 is said to be among the last major British wartime commemorations
00:47with a substantial veteran presence.
00:50I was 18 then and not going to grow much more and I cheated like mad and cut out cardboard
01:01heels to make me look taller and I built my hair up, puffed it up to make me look taller and
01:14I couldn't reach 5 foot 3 at all, I was only 5 foot 2 and a bit but I think they saw I was
01:24so keen to become a Wren that they thought, oh we'll let her through, they'll never measure
01:32her.
01:33At age 20, she didn't anticipate how tough life in post-war Britain would be.
01:40Speaking from her home near Harlow, north of London, Baron went on to recall the years
01:44of post-war reconstruction with extraordinary whim.
01:48It was certainly exciting and it was such a relief, that sense of relief, that it was, well, we were
02:00hoping it was going to be permanent and oh there was a tremendous feeling of now what do we do.
02:13She has been teaching yoga for 60 years and every Monday she holds a class close to her home.
02:21Her flexibility as demonstrated by her downward dog pose with heels on the floor and back
02:26perfectly flat impresses even her young students.
02:30Baron celebrated her 100th birthday in October 2024 by flying in a Spitfire, a Royal Air Force
02:37aircraft that played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain in 1940.
02:42With such energy today, it is easy to imagine Baron's determination at 18.
02:47She desperately wanted to join the Women's Royal Naval Service as they were known.
02:52We weren't going to have the Germans or the Nazis taking over our country.
02:58We were broadcasting over our tannoys and over our loudspeakers and in Morse code, talking to other
03:12ships about it.
03:13Oh, we were very excited that was over, but the war still went on and we knew it still went
03:21on.
03:22So we done one victory, now we got to make for the next one.
03:28It was a feeling of partly winning, but we still got to go on.
03:37And ahead of the D-Day Normandy landings, she helped test the portable Mulberry harbours,
03:42which were toured across the English Channel and allowed large number of troops and vehicles
03:46to reach France.
03:47But she didn't know what the structures were for at the time and only later realised how
03:53they were deployed.
03:53It's so useless war.
03:56Warfare can't be decided by killing.
04:01It can only be decided by bloody men knocking their heads together, making sense of life.
04:10It's the women who pick up all the consequences of war.
04:15They have to bring up children with no father and very little money.
04:24And the men don't realise that nobody wins, everybody loses.
04:32She plans to mark victory in Europe Day in the Netherlands for Dutch Liberation Day.
04:38And will take part in a service at Westminster Abbey on May 8, which will also be attended by
04:43the British royal family.
04:46During the war, Baron met her husband, Andrew, who was in the Royal Air Force.
04:50They had two daughters and Baron is now a great grandmother.
04:53Andrew died in 2021 and Baron still talks about him lovingly.
04:58Everybody had this spirit in the war.
05:02We do not want the Nazis in England.
05:06Get rid of them.
05:07And once we got rid of them there, we thought we'll get you out of Europe too.
05:12You're too near to us and we got rid of the wicked Nazi regime.
05:20It takes a lot to stop Baron from being cheerful, but she is concerned about current events, especially
05:25Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has left conflict ranging in Europe once more.
05:30She said that nobody wins a war.
05:42This rule has been…
05:44I'm off.
05:45For the UK 21st.
05:46There will be noyoub perdues or the respuesta nor generally in Russia a year!
05:48Unless being on the US교, 80 basis or territory.
05:50There will be no' shame…
05:50Why we believe so we could be that conflict in Ireland.