'Rest in peace, Jack' ...veterans' tribute to D-Day hero

NORMANDY veterans will lead an emotional tribute to a D-Day warrior who died just months before the 80th anniversary.

- Giles Sheldrick

Jack Quinn, who was last year feted as a hero by French President Emmanuel Macron for helping liberate France, had planned to take a final salute in June. The Royal Marine died in January aged 99.

Corporal Quinn was the coxwain of the craft which landed the night before the mighty amphibious assault, dropping frogmen whose task was to set explosive charges to German beach defences.

Their detonation, timed at the moment HMS Belfast opened fire, meant that the Allied invasion had begun.

On D-Day itself, June 6, 1944, Jack was sent to pick up civilians from Arromanches who were running down the beach as he came to shore. He was told not to ask questions but to take them out to a hospital ship without speaking.

They were thought to be Special Operations Executive agents fleeing the Gestapo after being involved in behind-the-lines sabotage.

Later that evening he was ordered to return to his troopship when he spotted a French boat ablaze and drifting to a minefield.

Sadness

Ignoring orders from his commanding officer, he single-handedly rescued seven French sailors before their vessel exploded.