D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Jack Quinn
Jack Quinn, Aged 99, Royal Marines
Interviewed 3 June 2023
Died 7 January 2024
One of the first people to arrive at the beaches on D-Day, Jack Quinn was coxswain on an amphibious craft dropping off frogmen who blew up enemy mines and obstacles ahead of the Navy bombardment and the troop landings.
He said: "I don’t think they would have got on the beach if it hadn’t been for those frogmen.
"This was about 3am and when they were done we were all waiting for (HMS) Belfast to fire its first shot which was the signal to start D-Day
"I was in my boat, and when first light came they went in. I picked some soldiers up and took them in and landed them. And then came out and was just ferrying all the time.
"My Major said at 11am ‘I want you to go to Arromanche. No-one has been there. It’s mind. And I want you to pick two people up.’ I said yes.
"The Germans were after them, so we got to Arromanches and the Germans didn’t take any notice of us.
"I didn’t think they thought we would do it. And the Free French had these two people - a man and a woman. They were spies. Get a little bit of sand we got - they would see us and let them run. And they ran onto my boat. And we were off.
"And that’s when the Germans knew we were there. I took these two people to a Canadian hospital ship out in the bay and passed them off.
"They were firing after us.
"My stern sheetsman, that’s the fellah on the back of the boat, he got shot. Because he kept looking. I kept telling him to keep his head down but he got shot. He’s in Ranville cemetery."
On the craft all day and until late into the night, he carried out a number of other tasks including ferrying American soldiers and going on ammunition runs.
He saw a ship that was on fire but his commanding officer refused his request to mount a rescue.
"I disobeyed his order and I slipped out," he said.
"We went to the boat and they were firing at us and shelling us and I picked some Frenchmen up and took them, saved them. Then their boat blew up and rocked ours.
"We then transferred them to the hospital ship. When I got back to my Major he swore and said ‘You have been very lucky. I’m not going to report you.’ I said ‘Thank you sir. You have saved lives.’"
Mr Quinn passed away a few months after this interview.
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