'I always felt guilty that they kept me behind'
101–year–old Jack Gledhill didn’t see active service, but is proud to have played a part in D-Day
Richard Ansett
- Kate Battersby
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Corporal Jack Gledhill of the Royal Engineers never saw frontline action in the Second World War, yet British military operations would have been impossible without people like him.
Now aged 101, Gledhill was 19 when he joined up in 1943 and became a sapper — a soldier who specialises in engineering tasks such as building and repairing roads, cranes and bridges, and laying and clearing mines.
Jack Gledhill was 19 when he joined the Royal Engineers. Courtesy of Jack Gledhill
After completing their training, the other men in Gledhill’s group were deployed to action in Normandy and elsewhere. “I was kept behind because they asked me to be an instructor, training more recruits as sappers,” he remembers.
By 1944, Gledhill was organising engineer personnel for D-Day, instructing troops on how to avoid enemy mines and booby traps and build bridges on land and sea. “I feel pride that I contributed, passing on my knowledge to the new sappers,” he says. “But I was frustrated that I never saw frontline action. I always felt guilty that they kept me behind. A lot of the men I trained with got killed on the front line. It was horrible.”
VE Day was just another working day for Gledhill. By then he was engaged to “beautiful” Margaret, having met her at a Sunday-night dance at the barracks. They spent the first three years of their marriage in Malta, where, while still in the Army, Gledhill helped rebuild bomb-damaged buildings.
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A widower for 30 years, Gledhill is now a grandfather of 15, a great-grandfather to as many again, and a great-great-grandfather to one, with another on the way. He is looking forward to the VE Day commemorations. “I’ll watch whatever is happening on the telly,” he smiles. “I’m glad I’m still here to celebrate.”
Authors
Kate Battersby
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