Tributes to D-Day vet who had ‘demeanour of a giant’
Sergeant major who parachuted into Normandy last year dies, aged 96
A D-Day veteran who last year parachuted into France to mark 75 years since the Normandy Landings, has died.
John ‘Jock’ Hutton, who lived in Maidstone, passed away in hospital on Wednesday, August 12, aged 96.
The Ministry of Defence paid tribute to Mr Hutton on social media, saying “his courage and spirit must never be forgotten”. Mr Hutton was a 19-year-old in the 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Batallion when he first parachuted into Normandy on June 6, 1944 as part of the Allied Invasion.
Last year was the third time the Scotsman marked the anniversary that way, having also done it at the 65th and 70th. Speaking on the 65th anniversary, he said: “To have the opportunity to jump on behalf of the battalion, with so few of my chaps left now, was an honour.” After D-Day, Mr Hutton was wounded in the stomach from mortar fire during a patrol, on June 22.
He was flown back to Britain but recovered in time to rejoin the troops and fight in the Ardennes, at the Battle of the Bulge, and advanced across Germany to the Baltic.
After World War II he served in Palestine, Cyprus, Egypt and Java before arriving in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in 1957 with his wife Doreen.
He served as a regimental sergeant major in Rhodesia Squadron SAS.
Aged 50, Mr Hutton was part of a daring attack, when less than 200 airborne troops from the Rhodesian Light Infantry and the SAS attacked 10,000 enemy combatants at Chimoio in Mozambique.
Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Strong, of the Rhodesian SAS, now retired, said Mr Hutton had the “demeanour of a giant”.
Lt. Col Strong said: “He was as tough as nails and fitter than men half his age. He obtained the admiration of those men he commanded.
“He looked upon strangers with a jaundiced eye, until he became satisfied with their character. If you were straight up and down and told it like it was, he had your back. He always had mine.
“He always had a twinkle in his eye and loved getting up to mischief. His men revered him, he led from the front. He had the demeanour of a giant yet in his socks, he stood only at 5ft 6in.”