Crystal Palace fans' gesture to WW2 veteran meant they 'deserved to win' FA Cup

Respectful Crystal Palace supporters have been praised for “showing the side of fans we don’t often see” when they honoured a 101 year old war veteran on the Tube leaving him overwhelmed.

More than 125,000 have liked a viral video of fans saluting and applauding Normandy veteran Edward Rutland, as they made their way to their historic final victory at Wembley. They were all queuing for the escalator when the World War Two D-Day veteran, Ted, was making his way home from a garden party at with his two pals when they “parted like the Red Sea”.

His friend has now written to the club chairman Steve Parish on his behalf, to praise the kind-hearted fans. Martin Greaves, 66, told The : “They deserved to win because of that reaction on the tube.

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“I was so impressed that I wrote to the chairman of the club and said how good his fans were. We were forced onto the underground because of a pro-Palestinian march and it was chockablock after police closed all the roads.

“But when the fans saw us they went berserk, just nuts and all parted. They were fantastic. They were cheering and singing to us on the tube, they were saluting up the escalator.

“It must have been similar to what VE Day was actually like. When Ted experienced it, he perked up straight away and he was waving to them and it could have been intimidating but it was such good natured. It was quite dramatic.

“For Ted he was quite emotional. It was a very nice end to a lovely weekend after a garden party at Buckingham Palace. The was there and loads of TV stars.

“I felt proud of the fans - that’s what I write to the chairman. I bet they don’t get a lot of good press but they deserve this."

Rutland was 20 when he became involved in the major operation to liberate northwest Europe from Nazi occupation. The Mansfield-born veteran still remembers being fired at by German soldiers as they landed on the beach in Normandy, France.

“You had to try and get up onto the road but the Germans were firing at us, we couldn’t move," he said. Mr Rutland was in the 147 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (147 RAC) and landed on Gold Beach on 12 June - the sixth day of the D-Day invasion.

Despite the bombardment, Mr Rutland said he - in a tank of five men - managed to get on to the road ahead, and travelled to Caen, where a battle was ongoing as part of the wider battle of Normandy.

“I was called up and I wanted to join because it was just a change from working on a construction site," he has said. He was awarded the French Legion D’Honneur, handed to the heroes who took part in the Normandy invasion and liberation of France.

Speaking to the Mirror ahead of the 80th anniversary of VE Day he told us: "It is important to remember those who died. Please remember them."

War hero Rutland will certainly "never forget" after arriving in Normandy days after the D-Day landings and watching friendly fire kill many of his friends.

After arriving on Gold beach, the co-driver was in a lorry trying to get over the sand in one piece, when a sniper started aimed at them but he said their tank driver "got rid of him".

But they were not so lucky weeks later when they were involved in the Battle for Hill 112 in Normandy. British troops fought against eight German panzer divisions.

The decorated soldier with the Royal Armoured Corp from Mansfield was one of the few survivors of an aerial bombardment which claimed the lives of many of his comrades. He said: "I was lucky."

He recalls 100 American aircraft flying overhead who went past the line of the Germans and then came back again and dropped bombs on the tanks where Rutland was located. Once the lead aircraft dropped their bombs on them the others followed.

Rutland described previously: “The result was a mess to say the least, the best part of two squadrons, a lot of good men, died that day. I lost a few friends.”

He recalls being the victim of friendly fire twice, the second time he saw soldiers wiped out in the field next to him at Arnhem in the Netherlands. This saw his second commander killed.

On VE Day itself, tea-totaller Rutland recalls being the only sober one in Hamburg and setting fire to a fountain monument. "We must have been mad but it was quite good fun," he said.