Jack Quinn

On 16th February 1942 Jack joined the Royal Marines and reported to Chatham Barracks with the ambition of becoming a bugler or a drummer. He was soon posted overseas, first to Casablanca, then to Malta and Gibraltar. Jack recalls serving on HMS Royal Sovereign which was later loaned to the Russian Navy for convoy escort duties.

Responding to Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s call for commandos and amphibious marines, Jack joined the small boat training program at Lympstone. This moved on to Dartmouth College, training as coxswain, spending days and nights on exercises at sea along the south coast. In time, the next stage was referred to as “toughening up” so Jack was sent to Scotland to Achnacarry Castle.

This whole site became known as “Castle Commando”. Reference is made to Donald Gilchrist’s book of this title in which he tells the story of how the home of the Clan’s hereditary chieftain, Cameron of Lochiel. So it was that ‘Achnacarry House’ was commandeered by the military for a new type of training. The foreward of Gilchrist’s book was written in 1960 by Admiral of the Fleet and Chief of Combined Operations, Earl Mountbatten of Burma:

“Before a new technique in fighting which involves a special form of courage and self-sacrifice can be successfully exploited, three stages are essential. Firstly, the whole idea has to be thought up and thought out. Secondly the right type of volunteers has to be obtained, and thirdly highly specialised training has to be arranged. The right site has to be found and the right man. Achnacarry could hardly have been bettered for the site and Charles Vaughn could hardly have been bettered as the man in charge.  So successful was the commando training that under various names, such as Battle Schools and Ranger Training, something approaching this technique was adopted by most of the allied forces.

I shall never forget the impact that Achnacarry made on me when I visited in 1942 after taking over the Combined Operations Command, and I suspect that neither will those who went through the course since many told me later that they found the real thing less alarming than the ‘Opposed Landing Exercise’ which Charles Vaugn used to finish up each course.”

Jack recalls: “We were at Achnacarry for a month. The castle building itself was a sort of HQ but the whole estate was littered with Nissen type huts for accommodating the troops. The training was certainly tough, the days were long and the weather was bloody awful.

The estate sits between two lochs: Loch Arkaig and Loch Lochy. Most of the training used live ammunition which very clearly catches attention! One of the big exercises was an opposed landing which I think was on Loch Lochy. This was typically carried out at night, involving a massed assault on the beachhead approaching the castle. With all the noise of explosions and gunfire, this lined us all up very well for Normandy.” 

In September 1952 the Commando Memorial was inaugurated in a ceremony led by HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Situated on the main road junction at Spean Bridge, the monument is affectionately known as “the Three Men on the Hill” and commemorates more than 25,000 troops who underwent the training program carried out across the western highlands.

Jack visited Achnacarry in September 2021 and was moved to pay his respects to the “Three Men”.

After his time at Achnacarry, by now early 1944, Jack reported to Glasgow to join the crew of a small feeder vessel which had landing craft strapped to its sides. Jack’s boat was Assault Landing Craft, LCA 789. This voyage was down to the Channel coast to commence training for D-Day.

Troops were being trained for the Second Front all over the UK. Scotland was in favour for its distance away from enemy surveillance so lochs and islands were in wide use. Coastal Forces made its base at Fort William, named HMS St. Christopher. Military planners scoured the coastline for suitable beaches where assaults could be practised: these included Burghead Bay on the Moray Firth and Woolacombe Beach in Morte Bay, Devon. The most well known is Slapton Sands in Start Bay which was used in Exercise Tiger. The area was chosen for its similarity to Utah Beach but a miscommunication led to several LSTs being attacked by enemy E-Boats leading to a high loss of life among American GIs. For the Royal Marines, including Jack’s frogmen units, training was mainly at HMS Appledore on the North Devon coast, at Poole and around Hayling Island.

“My Captain said to me: ‘I’ve a good job for you, Quinn. You are to train with nine frogmen in the area of Poole Harbour.’ Although we cracked on with this, around mid-May we were moved over to the Solent. One day, I think it was 15^th May, my commanding officer told me that we were to meet the Prime Minister and King George. I would be called on to explain the job we were expected to do. Of course we didn’t know at that time that it was Normandy, but we’d been practising beach assaults and underwater detonations.  So the King’s harbour boat came alongside our steam ship which carried 16 or 20 landing craft. My Captain warned me: ‘Don’t balls this up!’ The King didn’t say much but Churchill joined in enthusiastically. I particularly remember that all crewmen on the King’s boat had bare feet.”

“When it came to the invasion, there was the delay of 24 hours so this added to tensions. I remember we set off from Portsmouth at 23.55 on 5^th June and took position off Gold Beach. I think there was a total of around 130 men doing this same job all along the coast, diving into the shallow waters on the beach approach, setting charges on underwater defences.”  

Belgian Gates, correct name “Cointet Element” had been invented by a French General in the early 1930s. Thousands of these steel structures were submerged on the approaches to the Normandy landing beaches. Designed to tear the bottom out of landing craft, some were fitted with teller mines.

The vital task allocated to these Royal Marine Commando teams was to swim down under cover of darkness and attach explosive charges to the main obstacles.

“We quietly took position well off Gold Beach; the frogmen dropped over the side and proceeded to locate the steel obstructions and fasten the charges. I was coxswain of the landing craft and kept manoeuvring in close support. The water was only about ten feet deep but we were kept busy.”

The Belgian Gates were the primary target. These were about ten feet wide, with long welded supports leaning back towards the beach. These were the outer defences, followed by the smaller steel structures known to the troops as “hedgehogs”.

Around 2,400 formidable obstacles were cleared during D-Day, most of these with mines attached.

Officially, the frogmen teams were termed “Landing Craft Obstacle Clearing Units” or LCOCU for short. Although the work began at dead of night in order to attach charges to create safe passageways for assault landing craft, obstacle clearance continued through D-Day.

LCOCUs 3, 4, 9 & 10 were deployed to Gold Beach while LCOCUs 7 & 8 were sent to Sword Beach.

“When everything was set, we headed onto the beach. We hadn’t anywhere else to go, so we sat on the beach waiting. Once HMS Belfast opened fire with her main armament, we could complete our task. Down went the plunger and all the set charges detonated.”

“After the landings had begun, the German defenders were firing at everybody. We could see the infantrymen as they were landing and they were running forward, getting shot at, treading on mines and being blown into the air. It was chaotic; those lads on the beaches had it very rough indeed.”

“Later that morning, at about 11, the Captain sent me over to Arromanches to pick up two people. They were SOE operators, a man and woman. Once I beached, they ran up the ramp into the craft and I hurriedly went astern. My stern man was caught in gunfire so I got him over to the hospital ship later.”

“Around 11.30 that night (it certainly was the longest day) I noticed a boat on fire. Although the Captain told me to leave it alone as we have enough to do, I headed over to it because it was drifting towards a minefield. We were under heavy fire the whole time, being bombed and shelled but just kept running through it all. We rescued all seven men, all French. As soon as I got them on board their boat touched a mine and was blown into the air. Once settled, I ran them over to the hospital ship. When back to our ship, SS Empire Rapier, the Captain challenged me: ‘Where have you been off to now?’ After I explained, he just said: ‘You are one lucky bastard.’ After that he explained he was going back to Portsmouth and that I should stay and muck in as best I can.” 

Jack remained in the beaches area for the next few months. The ship helped to put the new Mulberry Harbour units into position and all busily worked on clearing defences to make the beachhead safer. In November 1944 Jack was awarded a formal Mention in Despatches for ‘Distinguished Service’. For his actions on D-Day, Jack was awarded the Croix de Guerre (Silver Star) by the French Government.

As the fighting moved further away and new ports opened, Jack returned to England.

“We enjoyed a welcome leave, then continued our training. In Poole Harbour we began to get ready for the crossing to the Channel Islands which had been isolated since the Normandy invasion. For this we set off from the Solent at about 22.00 on 8th May; this was 1945 with the war in Europe clearly coming to an end. There was great uncertainty but excited anticipation that we were nearly done. There wasn’t awareness that people have these days but we knew the Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Germans. I was keen to be part of that liberation but we didn’t know what to expect.”

After the fall of France in May/June 1940 communications between the islands and the British Government were fraught and awkward. In a fast moving situation many islanders were evacuated to the British mainland. Alderney’s population left almost in its entirety but, by contrast, the Dame of Sark Sibyl Hathaway, encouraged everyone to stay. In an optional policy, Guernsey evacuated 5,000 school-age children and around 12,000 adults, leaving a resident population of about 25,000.

The Channel Islands were by-passed after the D-Day invasion. This left the population, along with the occupying garrison of Germans, in difficulty to obtain essential supplies from France. As months passed, islanders were faced with starvation. Following protracted negotiations with the Red Cross, in December 1944 the SS Vega was permitted to bring relief of food, soap, salt, as well as medical supplies. Even though the Vega made five more trips to the islands, shortages of food remained.

On 8^th May 1945 at 3pm Winston Churchill made a BBC radio broadcast in which he declared that hostilities were to end at one minute after midnight, but hoping to save lives … “Cease fire began yesterday to be sounded all along the front, and our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today.”

German forces surrendered the Island of Guernsey the next day in a ceremony which took place on board the destroyer, HMS Bulldog.

In a similar ceremony the same day, HMS Beagle took the German surrender of the Island of Jersey. Sark was liberated the following day and the German garrison of Alderney surrendered on 20^th May.

 

Jack recalls: “We headed for Guernsey and anchored outside St Peter Port harbour. Our officer was a Royal Marine with a long service record. Oddly, he was a Major and his surname was Major. So, with Major Major in charge, at about 05.30 we lowered the landing craft into the water and headed towards the harbour entrance. Waiting for clearance, we just held outside the harbour for about an hour. We could see Germans in uniform chucking their rifles into a pile. On arrival at the slipway we tied up alongside some steps. There was a good deal of uncertainty about what would happen next but it was obvious that everyone was hungry. We had loaves of bread on board which we started distributing and the welcome became louder as it became understood this was the beginning of liberation. I remember trying that potato peel pie which was brown and horrible! Mind you, the lady told me that I would eat it if I was seriously hungry – I’m still not so sure.”

Realisation of liberation quickly took hold and the people of Guernsey promptly filled the streets to celebrate. Even as that day in 1945 gradually slips away from living memory, this liberation festival has continued with enthusiasm each year with family stories passed down the generations. Such is the impact of winning freedom from occupation by a foreign power. 

“Once ashore properly, we started to round up the German soldiers from the garrison. This was a shuttle then as we sent occupying troops over to our ship as prisoners of war. It was after this that we went across to the nearby small island of Sark. We were mostly searching for any SS who might cause trouble. As other ships arrived, arrangements were put in place for clearing troops of the occupying forces and setting free the forced workers.”

On 7^th June the King and Queen visited both Guernsey and Jersey to welcome the oldest possessions of the Crown back to freedom. The Royal couple arrived by Dakota and visited Candie Gardens where a speech was given by the Bailiff. His Majesty duly responded:

“I can already see evidence of the hard work which has been done by the members of my forces and the inhabitants of the island to repair the damage done by the enemy and to prepare the way for you to regain your former well-being. I am confident that by your endeavours, which will have the fullest support of my Government, your island will soon be restored to happiness and prosperity.”

 

So what does Jack think of it all now, looking back over so many years?

“I have been back to Normandy every June for the last many years. Traveling in a group of 40 or so veterans with D-Day Revisited has been a terrific experience, with unforgettable memories. We’ve met lots of French people who have been very kind and welcoming. Having the uniformed Queen Alexandra medics in the group is reassuring and makes us all feel part of the military family again.”

“I remained in the Royal Marines until going into the Reserves in 1957. After that I worked in road haulage for about twenty years then started a transport business with my son. I worked in that until I was 82 years of age. Thinking of family life along with a busy and rewarding career, as veterans we can’t help thinking about those who didn’t make it through the war; all the lost potential from those wonderful young men who were lost in France and the Low Countries.” 

Jack visited Normandy with D-Day Revisited several times and is pictured here on board newly restored MASB 27 on 5th June 2019.  His is an extraordinary story and we are very pleased he has given us his blessing to share it with you.

Of course Jack can be particularly proud of his courage and determination on D-Day itself.  His actions saved the lives of many who would have almost certainly be lost and this is recognised in the citation he received from The French Vice Admiral LEMONNIER at the end of the war.