D-Day hero who brought the Queen to her feet dies at 100
‘You never forget your comrades’
A D-DAY hero whose speech brought all to their feet during the 75th anniversary commemorations this summer has died a month after celebrating his 100th birthday.
John Jenkins, a former sergeant in the Royal Pioneer Corps who landed on Gold Beach in 1944, passed away in hospital on Monday night after a short illness, it was announced yesterday.
At June’s national commemorative event, held in his hometown Portsmouth, he brought the audience – including The Queen, Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron – to a standing ovation as he paid tribute to his fallen comrades.
Mr Jenkins said: ‘I was terrified. I think everyone was. You don’t show it, but it’s there. I look back on it as a big part of my life – but I was just a small part in a very big machine. You never forget your comrades because we were all in there together.
‘It’s right that the courage and sacrifice of so many is being honoured 75 years later. We must never forget.’
After landing in Arromanches, one of five D-Day landing points along the French coast, he was tasked with moving ammunition forward from the beaches to the front line.
Mr Jenkins later took part in the liberation of a German concentration camp. He was awarded an MBE for his role as a company sergeant major in the Territorial Army after the war.
Former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt, the Portsmouth North MP, yesterday paid tribute to Mr Jenkins, who was married to his late wife Peggy for 74 years.
She said: ‘John’s life was one of service and dedication. Earlier this year at the D-Day commemoration we were reminded again of what he and his generation did for our nation.
‘Listening to his account of those times, and the friends he lost, his character shone through – modest, brave and kind.’
Richard Palusinski, chairman of the Spirit of Normandy Trust charity, said: ‘The world owes people like John a huge debt of gratitude. It is because of them that Europe has enjoyed 75 years of peace.
‘All of those veterans of D-Day were ordinary men who were pulled out of their ordinary everyday jobs to undertake an extraordinary task that changed the course of world history.’
Mr Jenkins joined the crew of a Cunard liner, RMS Mauretania, as a bellboy aged 14. He signed up for military service when the Second World War broke out.
A lifelong Portsmouth FC fan, he carried the Olympic flame from the club’s Fratton Park ground during preparations for the 2012 summer games in London.
Mr Jenkins, who tuned 100 on November 16, had worked as a boardroom steward at his beloved football club, rubbing shoulders with former chairman Milan Mandaric and the business tycoon’s close friend, footballing legend George Best.
Portsmouth director Eric Eisner described Mr Jenkins as a ‘true legend’, adding: ‘We should all be lucky to have accomplished and lived as much as John did.’