A NAVAL veteran who survived the sinking of HMS Ark Royal in 1941 celebrated his 100th birthday.

Eddie Simmons, right, had a visit from a member of the Royal Navy’s Bournemouth recruiting office at Abbey Rose home in St Leonards.

The Ark Royal was an aircraft carrier sunk by a U-Boat near Malta, with the loss of only one of the 1,487 officers and crew on boards.

Eddie’s only child Barbara flew over from Ireland for the big day, as did his grandson from Spain.

Home manager Mark Burch-field said: “We had a tea par-ty and Eddie loved it.”

Eddie, a widower from Kilburn in London, also worked as a merchant sailor, electrician and civil servant and retired to Corfe Mullen before entering the home after a fall.

Friend Gordon Knowlton from Parkstone in Poole, who met Eddie as a volunteer driver for Contact the Elderly, still visits Eddie each week.