Thank you for your interest in this story

To continue reading this article, subscribe to the Stray Ferret for as little as £1 a week

Already a subscriber? Log in here.

Jan 2022

Last Updated: 31/01/2022

Community

Fitting send-off for Harrogate's humble D-Day veteran

by Connor Creaghan

| 31 Jan, 2022

A bugler played The Last Post in front of a packed crowd at Stonefall Crematorium today in honour of John Rushton, who was known as Jack to friends. The cortege travelled from Jack's former home on Beech Road to St Robert's Church for a funeral and then on to a packed crematorium.

Representatives from the armed forces attended the service.

A bugler from the Royal Marines today marked the final journey of Harrogate's humble D-Day veteran, who has died at the age of 97.

John Rushton, known as Jack to friends, passed away peacefully at Harrogate District Hospital after a visit from his family on New Year’s Day.

There was a fitting send-off for Mr Rushton today, which began with a procession from his former home on Beech Road to St Robert's Church for a funeral service.

The procession then headed to Stonefall Crematorium on Wetherby Road where it was met by representatives from the military.

A bugler played The Last Post in front of a packed crown to mark the committal.

Son's tribute

Dave Rushton, one of John’s four sons, said:

“We are very sad but my dad has left a great legacy and history. We have had so many goodwill messages, which has been an enormous help.

“He fought the illness really hard, he fought right to the end. I want to put on record our thanks to the staff on Wensleydale Ward and at Lister House care home in Ripon.

“I think people will remember him for his character. So many people have told me how much of a character he was, even if he never thought he was a hero.

“We did manage to get in a trip back in 2019 to Normandy to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day. We had hoped to go again but we certainly ended on a high.

“I already know a lot about his life but since his passing I have learned a lot more about the affection people held him in.”

A British Army spokesman said:

“We are indebted to the bravery of Mr Rushton and his comrades. Our thoughts are with Mr Rushton’s family and friends at this difficult time.”

David Houlgate, vice chair of the Knaresborough branch of the Royal British Legion, said:

“What I will say is clearly he was in a sense a true hero of this country. John defended this country and helped to free Europe from tyranny.”

The remarkable life of John ‘Jack’ Rushton

Mr Rushton was born on May 24, 1924 in Doncaster, where he was brought up and educated before leaving school to become an apprentice joiner.

he was too young to enlist at the outbreak of World War II so he joined the Home Guard before volunteering for service shortly after his 18th birthday.

On the night of June 5, 1944, he set off from Portsmouth, having been sent in place of another marine who had fallen ill.

The crossing was made in a flat bottomed tank landing craft, and as the weather was poor, he sheltered with a comrade underneath one of the tanks, lying on top of the ammunition.

It was such a rough crossing, he later said he preferred being shot at in France to staying on board.

Arriving on the Normandy beach at 6am on June 6 he proceeded to deploy and arm his unit’s tanks and guns and spent much of the assault without his helmet or rifle as they impeded his tasks.

During that day, he narrowly avoided death three times, including when he ran over an anti-tank mine several times. He often said with a wry smile that only the good die young. He also said that the real heroes are the ones who didn’t return home.

Having been promoted to sergeant, Jack was then sent to India, travelling by ship and often sleeping on riveted steel decks. On arrival in Bombay his unit was tasked with keeping the peace during the country’s internal struggles, and later training to join the war against Japan further east.

In 1945 he was sent to Malaysia to await deployment to the battlefront, however the atomic bomb spared him the ordeal of another fight.

After the war was over, his unit was sent back to India to quell a naval mutiny. As a result, he didn’t make it home until 1946, when he was demobbed, and returned to Doncaster.

He moved jobs and towns before he settled in 1972 with a final family move to Harrogate College of Further Education.

Jack retired in 1988 and turned to his interests in the local brass bands and the Royal Naval Association. He was widowed in 2012 after almost 61 years of marriage, which produced four children, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.