John Dennett, Royal Navy veteran of Operation Torch, Anzio and D-Day, dies aged 101
A Royal Navy veteran who took part in Allied landings from North Africa to Normandy during the Second World War has died aged 101.
Against his mother's wishes, John Dennett joined the Royal Navy in March 1942, aged 17, and trained as an anti-aircraft gunner before joining Landing Ship Tank 322.
His service later took him through Operation Torch in North Africa, the Sicily landings, Salerno, Anzio and then the D-Day invasion of Normandy.
On D-Day, LST 322 approached Sword Beach as part of the Allied assault force.
In his own account, Mr Dennett recalled passing HMS Warspite as the battleship opened fire, before his ship moved in to unload troops, tanks and equipment onto the beaches.
In the days that followed, his vessel made repeated crossings to Normandy, bringing reinforcements ashore and returning with wounded personnel and prisoners of war.
The work of the landing ships, often carried out under threat from air attack and coastal fire, formed a critical part of sustaining the largest seaborne invasion in history, after the initial landings.
Long before Sword Beach, Mr Dennett had already faced air raids and shellfire in earlier Allied landings in the Mediterranean.
During operations off North Africa, Sicily and Salerno, and later on the Anzio route, he came under sustained air attack and shellfire while transporting men and materiel.
Before the war, he had worked as an apprentice bricklayer in Wiltshire. As a young man, John wanted to be part of "what was going on in the big world," so he made the decision to enlist.
Mr Dennett later recalled that his mother opposed the idea of him joining up, while his father thought service would do him good.
"My mum was strongly against the plan and refused to give me my birth certificate," he is quoted as saying on D-Day Revisited.
"So I went off to Bristol and joined the Navy. Because I didn’t have my birth certificate I added six months to my age to get me over 18.
"It was funny that nobody asked for my birth certificate and, looking back, the irony is that if my mum had given that to me they would have turned me away on account of being underage."
While LST 322 was undergoing repairs in Liverpool, getting ready for the Normandy landings, he met his future wife, Joyce. After the war was over, the couple settled on Merseyside.
In 1949, they founded Ashville FC in Wallasey, naming it after the street where they lived.
The club went on to become a lasting part of community life on Merseyside, with Mr Dennett remaining closely associated with it for decades.
He was appointed MBE in the 2023 New Year Honours in recognition of his service and his contribution to the community.
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