WAR HERO’S LAST BATTLE
Tributes paid to war veteran and Caravanning Club stalwart as he dies following coronavirus diagnosis
Tributes have been paid to war veteran Jim Pass after his death following a coronavirus diagnosis. Aged 102 and a recipient of the Légion d’honneur for his service in liberating France, he had been one of Yorkshire’s last surviving Dunkirk and D- Day veterans.
ONE of Yorkshire’s last Dunkirk and D- Day veterans has died with Covid- 19 at the age of 102.
Jim Pass, who was born in Castleford in 1918 but spent most of his life in Horsforth on the outskirts of Leeds before moving to Sheffield in the final decades of his life, died on November 4 shortly after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
His step- daughter Kerensa Welsby said Jim had moved into a care home in July following a fall at home. She said it had been a difficult few months for the family, as Jim, who had Alzheimer’s disease, was unable to have visitors including his wife Rita due to the pandemic.
“The last time my mum gave him a hug was when he went into the care home in July. He couldn’t quite understand why she wouldn’t go into the home,” she said. “It has been quite a traumatic period. But there are blessings. He was 102 and actually died quite peacefully. He didn’t suffer which he could have done with Covid and he lived an amazing life.”
She said the family have been inundated with tributes to Jim, who was awarded the Légion d’honneur, inset right, for his service in liberating France and had an extraordinary wartime story.
Jim was a motorbike dispatch rider in the early stages of the war where he delivered messages between military lines. During the retreat to Dunkirk, he was part of an ammunition convoy that got strafed by German planes, causing huge explosions and leaving him on his own. On his way to the beaches, he ditched his bike in a canal so the Germans couldn’t use it. Kerensa said: “He came across an abandoned village where he was lucky enough to find a tin of sausages. He scoffed the lot, only to be violently sick as the food was too rich for his starved stomach.”
When he eventually got aboard a paddle steamer leaving Dunkirk it was hit by a bomb and he narrowly escaped.
On his return to England, Jim married his girlfriend Molly Dunn. On D- Day he drove a DUKW amphibious vehicle bringing ammunition onshore to Sword Beach, where nearly 700 British soldiers died as they encountered fierce German resistance.
After the war, Jim went on to take over his father’s newsagent shop but much of his later years were taken up by his involvement in the Camping and Caravanning Club which he joined on a whim after getting chatting to a group of caravan owners in Pateley Bridge.
Jim went on to hold a series of regional and national leadership roles down the years. During his time as chairman of the publicity committee, his stunts including sitting the Camping Club Youth Test at the age of 70.
Following Molly’s death in the 1980s, in 1988 Jim went on to marry Rita, herself a member of the club and a widow.
Jim was interviewed by The Yorkshire Post in June 2018 on the 75th anniversary of D- Day. Despite facing increasing memory challenges, he was keen to share his story. “It is important for the simple reason that you hope it never occurs again and that we live in peace with European countries,” he said.
JIM PASS had an extraordinary wartime story – as a motorbike dispatch rider he narrowly survived the retreat at Dunkirk as a boat he was on was hit by a bomb, while he took part in D- Day driving an amphibious vehicle carrying ammunition onto shore. He then served as a glider pilot and saw the horror of the Belsen concentration camp as Allied Forces made their way across Europe.
Yet, despite his heroic service and like so many of his generation, Jim’s life was not defined solely by the war. The loving family man, who has died at the age of 102, went on to take over his father’s newsagent shop after the war but also spent over 50 happy years as a member of the Camping and Caravanning Club – serving in a variety of regional and national roles.
As publicity committee chairman, he even found brief fame by sitting the Camping Club Youth Test at the age of 70.
His memory will live on amongst all of those that knew and loved him.