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06
Jan 2022
Tributes paid to Harrogate D-Day veteran, who has died aged 97
Tributes have been paid to a Harrogate's D-Day veteran who has died at the age of 97.
John Rushton, who was also known as Jack among friends, passed away peacefully at Harrogate District Hospital after a visit from his family on New Year's Day.
Mr Rushton not only fought in World War II but when he settled in Harrogate in the 1970s he carried on in public service with his work at Harrogate College and the Tewit Youth Band.
On VE Day in May 2020, he was the star of the town's celebrations. Leaning out of his window, he watched performances and warmed the hearts of his neighbours. He told the Stray Ferret on the day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aomMbx5ca7Y
Mr Rushton was never one to command attention and always rejected the title of hero, but he was held in high regard by his peers and all that knew him.
Dave Rushton, one of John's four sons, said:
A British Army spokesman said:
David Houlgate, vice chair of the Knaresborough branch of the Royal British Legion, said:
The life of John 'Jack' Rushton
Mr Rushton was born in Doncaster on May 24, 1924, where he was brought up and educated before leaving school to become an apprentice joiner.
At the outbreak of World War II because he was too young to enlist, he joined the home guard before he volunteered 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 taken 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.
Read more:
- Harrogate fire fighters cook up a surprise for war veteran Jack’s 96th birthday
- Residents throw heartening street party to thank Harrogate war hero
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 running over an anti-tank mine several times. He often says with a wry smile that only the good die young. He also says that the real heroes are the ones who didn’t return home.
Jack ready to celebrate VE Day in 2020.
Having been promoted to Sergeant, Jack was then sent out 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 when the atomic bombs were dropped, he was spared the ordeal of the next fight.
Although the war was now over, his unit was sent back to India to help quell a naval mutiny, and 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 and has four children, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
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