Jack died on 24 April 1998 aged 74.
He enlisted at Woolwich on 13 January 1938 and was posted to the 10th Royal Hussars, with whom he remained for a year. He was then transferred to the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, then stationed at Main Barracks, Abbassia, Cairo, in December 1938.
He took part in the Desert Campaign from Buq Buq to El Mechili, when he transferred to the 5th Royal Tank Regiment in May 1941.
He was taken prisoner at El Adem on 2 June 1942 and was interviewed by Gen Rommel. He escaped from an Italian prisoner-of-war camp in 1943. He was on the run for six months. On recapture, he was sent to a camp in Germany, where he worked in the salt mines.
He was released from the camp in May 1945 and transferred to the RAOC in August 1945. He took his discharge on 26 June 1946.
In civilian life he became an ice cream seller, riding a tricycle. Later he drove for a milk company and subsequently for a builder’s merchant. In 1947 he married Eileen and moved to Sunbury-on-Thames, where he worked as a greengrocer. In 1957 they moved to Bracknell, Jack becoming the manager of a greengrocer shop. He was made redundant in 1975 when he went on to work for Ferranti until his retirement in 1987.
Eileen and Jack had five children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
He joined the Regimental Association in November 1994.
