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WWII veteran declares winning the war ‘wasn’t worth it’ due to the state of the UK
7 Nov 2025, 11:08 | Updated: 1d agoBy Asher McShane
@ashermcs
An emotional 100-year-old war veteran heartbreakingly declared that winning World War II ‘wasn’t worth it’ due to the state of the country at the moment.
Alec Penstone appeared on Good Morning Britain joined by musicians the D Day Darlings, who surprised him with a performance ahead of Remembrance Day week.
Asked by host Kate Garraway what Remembrance Sunday meant to him, war veteran Alec emotionally described how it felt as though winning the war was ‘not worth’ the sacrifice of how the country had turned out today.
Alec said: “My message is, I can see in my mind's eye those rows and rows of white stones and all the hundreds of my friends who gave their lives, for what? The country of today?
“No, I'm sorry - but the sacrifice wasn't worth the result of what it is now.”
Alec continued: “What we fought for was our freedom, but now it's a darn sight worse than when I fought for it.”
The show’s presenters were stunned by his answers with Kate consoling him: “Alec, I'm sorry you feel like that and I want you to know that all the generations that have come since, including me and my children, are so grateful for your bravery and all the other service personnel.
“It's our job now to make it the country that you fought for, and we will do.”
Alec was just 15 when war broke out in 1939. He volunteered as a messenger throughout the Blitz and spent his teenage years “pulling bodies out of bombed buildings.”
He went on to join the Navy after promising his father he wouldn’t serve on the front lines due to the horrors he had witnessed in WW1.
He served on submarines and on an aircraft carrier and took part in the Arctic Convoys to Russia, before taking part in the D-Day landings.

