ROYAL Navy gunner John Dennett, who fought at every historic Allied landing in Europe during World War Two, has died aged 101.
Brave John was in the thick of the action on a tank landing ship in four invasions.
As an apprentice bricklayer building homes for the military, he was in a reserved occupation and did not have to fight for his country.
But he volunteered to join the Royal Navy, at the age of 17.
Eight months later, he found himself in Operation Torch — taking Monty’s Desert Rats to fight Rommel’s troops in North Africa.
The following year he was part of Operation Husky — the massive Allied amphibious assault at Sicily.
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Soon after that he saw action in Operation Avalanche — the fight to take Salerno on the Italian mainland.
And in 1944, under constant heavy bombardment, he was landing tanks and troops on Sword Beach in Normandy on D-Day.
Tributes were paid yesterday to the war hero who always honoured his fallen comrades and insisted: “The lucky ones grow old.”
The Spirit of Normandy Trust charity said of John, who passed away on Sunday: “He was a man of great character. “
John returned to Normandy on numerous occasions to honour those who were not so lucky.”
John, of Wallasey, Merseyside, was awarded an MBE in 2023, and met the King and Queen the following year at the 80th anniversary of D-Day, which honoured the 22,000 British troops killed in Normandy.
He said: “We must remember those lads — and there were thousands of them who gave their life for our freedom which we all enjoy.”
Against his mother’s wishes, John quit building accommodation blocks for the military and joined the Royal Navy, where nobody checked his birth certificate to see whether he was under 18.
After training as an nti-aircraft gunner, he was sent to the United States to join LST (Landing Ship Tank) 322, which he served on throughout the war.
Gunner Dennett first saw action in November 1942 during Operation Torch, landing tanks in North Africa for Monty’s 8th Army Desert Rats.
He recalled, with typical understatement: “We worked our way along to Tripoli.
By this time we were getting the best of the battle against Rommel’s Afrika Corps but we were certainly kept busy.”
The following summer John was in the thick of Operation Husky, putting Allied troops ashore in Sicily for the invasion of Italy before taking part in landings at Salerno and Anzio.
He said: “We ran the gauntlet of ‘Anzio Annie’ — two 12-inch guns on a railway track, which attacked all the convoys of LSTs — and were harassed by air attacks.
“Some LSTs were lost and the hospital ship St David was sunk.”
After Anzio, he returned to Britain and would meet his future wife, Joyce, in Birkenhead.
Then on D-Day in June 1944 he took part in the Operation Overlord Normandy landings.
He said: “I remember passing HMS Warspite.
“We hadn’t seen her since Salerno and knew her affectionately as the Old Lady.
“The whole ship rocked backwards in recoil, with a great belch of flame before being covered in smoke. It was a fantastic sight.
“We went into Sword Beach to offload troops and heavy equipment.”
John added: “To me, D-Day wasn’t as bad as some of my other escapades.
But it was only possibly because I was never really shot at on that day.
Being a sailor, I’m glad I wasn’t a soldier. I don’t know if I could’ve charged off our landing craft with a gun or not.”
That summer John and the crew of LST322 made 15 crossings between Normandy and the UK ferrying troops, tanks and vehicles for the Allied victory in Europe.
After the war ended, he and Joyce, who had no children, founded Ashville Football Club in Merseyside, named after the road where they lived.
The Wallasey-based side is still going 75 years later.
It called John a “true legend” and said his legacy would “live on in our club forever”.
A minute’s applause will be held at their match on Saturday in honour of the modest hero.
