A second World War veteran in Northern Ireland who lived through the D-Day landings has urged people not to be shy and enjoy their lives, but pick their friends wisely, ahead of his 100th birthday.George Spencer, who served around the globe with the Royal Navy and is looking forward to celebrating his landmark birthday with his family in Ballymena, Co Antrim, warned: “There are some nasty people around.”But he noted there are also some “very good ones”, describing himself as being lucky.Spencer served with the Royal Navy and described having a “bird’s eye view” of the D-Day landings, credited as the turning point in the second World War, from the mast of the HMS Nelson.“I had binoculars, Japanese I think, the lens was as big as a plate. I watched the landings going on. I remember the Nelson, the [HMS] Rodney and an aircraft carrier,” he said.Spencer was born in the coal-producing English county Nottinghamshire, and recalled when he was at school thinking that mining was the “last place he wanted to go”, and instead went to the then naval academy the TS Mercury training ship.This service was under the former record-breaking long jumper and cricketer CB Fry as the captain superintendent of the Mercury.“The Mercury was a hulk of a ship, I remembered sleeping in hammocks and scrubbing the floor.“People said they always knew the Mercury boys from the smell of the soap they gave us, it was pretty strong stuff.”Royal Navy veteran George Spencer with his daughter Sally Ann Johnston at his home in Gracehill, Ballymena, ahead of his 100th birthday. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire Spencer later settled in Northern Ireland following his Naval Service career with his wife who he had met after being sent to Derry, and their family.He also served with the Australian Naval Service for a time, and one of his daughters was even born there while his family had travelled with him.Spencer’s daughter Sally Ann Johnston said her father spoke about his wartime experiences “very little” as she grew up.“I got the impression then that everybody just got on with it, and they didn’t complain, they just did what was required, and probably didn’t think so much of the fact that they may have been in danger themselves,” she said.She added it was only through her own research that she found out the ship her father had been on had been hit by a mine, and had been damaged.“I said to him, ‘Dad, you never told me about this, the ship being hit by a mine’, and he said: ‘Oh yes, we sat on a mine’, as if that was part of daily life.” – PA