The war medals of the Normandy veteran who broke out of his care home to attend last year ’ s D-Day commemorations in France have sold for more than five times their estimated value . Bernard Jordan became known as the Great Escaper after he absconded from his carers , caught a ferry to Caen and turned up in Normandy with his service awards pinned to his blazer . His medals raised £1,650 for the RNLI at Wallis and Wallis in Lewes , East Sussex . The estimate had been £300 . Great Escaper : Bernard Jordan absconded from his carers , caught a ferry to Caen and turned up in Normandy with his service awards pinned to his blazer . Mr Jordan died aged 90 on December 30 , and a week later his widow Irene passed away . The couple had no immediate family and left £600,000 to the RNLI in their will . Mr Jordan was a 19-year-old Royal Navy lieutenant when on June 6 , 1944 , he was on a tank-landing craft in the first wave of boats to hit the Normandy beaches . He had already taken part in the Battle of the Atlantic - the cat-and-mouse conflict between Allied ships and German U-boats over the vital supply routes from Europe to the United States . At one stage he was part of the boarding party that captured one of the Enigma coding machines , used by the Nazis to scramble messages , from an enemy submarine . Following the war , Mr Jordan got into local politics and served as a town councillor for 23 years in his hometown of Hove , East Sussex . He was a a city councillor for two years and was mayor of the town from 1995 to 1996 . Mr Jordan hit headlines in June last year when he went missing from his care home the day before the 75th anniversary D-Day celebrations . Without telling anyone , including his wife Irene , the plucky pensioner caught a ferry to Caen in Normandy and made his own way to the service . D-Day : Mr Jordan was a 19-year-old Royal Navy lieutenant when on June 6 , 1944 , he was on a tank-landing craft in the first wave of boats to hit the Normandy beaches . Mr Jordan's medals , sold after his death , comprise the 1939-1945 Star , the Atlantic Star with French and German clasp , the Italy Star , the Defence Medal and the War Medal . Police meanwhile had launched a missing persons appeal which was only called off when Mr Jordan called home . On his return , Mr Jordan was made an honorary alderman of Brighton and Hove and on his 90th birthday he was inundated with 2,500 cards from wellwishers around the world . More than 150 mourners turned out to pay their respects to Mr Jordan at a joint funeral service for him and Irene held in Brighton on January 30 . His medals , sold after his death , comprise the 1939-1945 Star , the Atlantic Star with French and German clasp , the Italy Star , the Defence Medal and the War Medal . A spokesman for the auction house said : 'Bernard Jordan was a wonderful chap who really embodied the great British bulldog spirit . 'He proudly served his country both during the war as a Navy officer and afterwards as a councillor . 'Medals such as these would normally only fetch a few hundred pounds but Bernard became something of a celebrity following his Normandy adventure . '
Bernard Jordan went missing from his care home before D-Day anniversary . He caught a ferry to Caen , Normandy and made his own way to the service . He died aged 90 on December 30 , and a week later his widow passed away . Mr Jordan 's medals have sold for £1,650 - the estimate had been just £300 . Money raised donated to RNLI , together with £600,000 left in couple 's will .