D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Jack Mortimer

Jack Mortimer, Age 100, Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Interviewed 11 October 2023

In a jeep driving onto Sword Beach on D-Day, Jack Mortimer was a driver and dispatch rider with the 12th Ordnance Beach Detachment.

Beach Groups organised the flow of troops following the landings, including controlling the movement of vehicles to inland assembly points. 

He said: "There were about 60 storemen if you like. Storemen of a different class. Soldiers that knew all ammunition, how to store it.

"And petrol of course. All this is necessary behind the fighting soldier.

"In the 6th Beach Group  were detachments of all corps. Trained to land. We trained with Naval commandos."

He remembers his landing very clearly.

"There was a trailer behind me full of ammunition - and my motorbike. My motorbike, smashing bike.

"I was more or less the last one to join on the ferry so I was the first off. There was a big lift and it went down and I have told many many people about how we got off. I was sat there in the jeep and the door opened and there was a big what we call an alligator - a big raft. And the two ramps - and the sea wasn’t all that calm.

"There was a sailor there with a red light and a green light and it was ‘When the green light is on, get yourself off.’

"And I was looking down at the sea and then it was bang on. That was it. I never got my feet wet."

Mr Mortimer’s section created ammunition and petrol dumps. He later joined the fighting in Caen. 

He said: "I am proud to be a D-Day veteran. I don’t brag about it. I was only one of 130,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen.

"We were all trained to do a little job. And we all did it well.

"And all those little bits came together to make a gigantic effort that rid Europe of the Nazi tyranny."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...