Jim Pass, born in Castleford in August 1918, but spent most of his life in Horsforth on the outskirts of Leeds before moving to Sheffield in the last decades of his life, died on November 4 at a time after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
His daughter-in-law Kerensa Welsby said Jim moved into a nursing home in July after a fall at the house. She said it had been a difficult time for a few months for the family circle because Jim, who had Alzheimer’s disease, hadn’t. He has been receiving visitors, adding his wife Rita, inside the rest house because of the pandemic.
“The last time my mom gave him a hug was when he entered the rest house in July. She may not realize why she didn’t come into the house,” she said. “It was a pretty traumatic moment. But there are blessings. He was 102 years old and passed away in peace. He did not suffer what he could have done with Covid and lived a life. “
He said the circle of relatives had been inundated with tributes to Jim, who won the Legion of Honour for his service in liberation from France and lived an ordinary war story.
Jim, a motorcyclist with the Royal Army Service Corps at the start of the war, where he transmitted messages between army lines. During the dramatic retreat in Dunkirk, Jim, a component of an ammunition convoy heading to Dunkirk when they were gunned through German aircraft. causing massive explosions and leaving him alone. On the way to the beaches, he left his motorcycle in a canal so the Germans simply don’t use it.
Kerensa said: “He came here through a deserted village where he was lucky enough to find a box of sausages. He laughed at the lot, only to be seriously ill because the food was too rich for his hungry stomach.
Jim had to stay seven days on Dunkirk Beach, but when he nevertheless got on a rowboat, he was hit by a bomb, controlled to escape and was among those collected through a naval destroyer, but lots of infantrymen who were under the decks of the drowned steam.
Upon his return to England, Jim married his friend Molly Dunn and after his application for an RAF fighter pilot was rejected, he was trained by the army to fly Horsa glers carrying troops.
On D-Day, he drove a DUKW amphibious vehicle that brought ammunition ashore at Sword Beach, where some 30,000 Allied infantrymen landed and some 700 British infantrymen died in fierce German resistance.
After D-Day, Jim landed his glider in Holland and fought with his comrades across Germany, passing through the newly liberated Belsen concentration camp where thousands of people had been kept in terrible condition.
Kerensa said Jim had many colorful war stories, adding that he promoted his cigarette rations to other infantrymen because he didn’t smoke.
“You were paid, but he never touched his money. He came out of the war with credits and lost the records while the other infantrymen were wiped out of debt, he had been in credit. “
Jim then took over his father’s newspaper shop, but much of his later years was held by his participation in the Camping and Caravaning Club, which he joined on a whim after speaking to a caravan organization at Pateley Bridge.
He enrolled in the club, even though he had no caravan at the time.
Jim has been a member of the club for more than 50 years, occupying regional and national leadership positions over the years.
During his tenure as chairman of the National Advertising Committee, he proposed stunts, adding Camping Club Youth at the age of 70, a procedure that referred to demonstrating his camping skills with a teenage organization.
After Molly’s death in the 1980s, Jim married Rita, herself a club member and widow, in 1988. The couple traveled all over Europe, with Italy being one of the favorites, from Turkey to the Arctic Circle.
A spokesman for the Camping and Caravaning Club said: “Jim, an avid caravan and member of the Club for more than 50 years. We were all very proud of his achievements as a World War II veteran, and we were very happy when he awarded him the Legion of Honor in 2016.
“Jim, a well-known, committed and very popular member of the Camping and Caravaning Club that we will miss very much. “
Jim was interviewed through the Yorkshire Post in June 2018 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Despite developing demanding situations with his reminiscence at the time due to Alzheimer’s disease, he said he was willing to share his war stories.
“I think it is vital to the undeniable explanation of why you hope that this will never happen again and that we live in peace with European countries. It is very vital to tell other people what the situations of war were. Many others,”. people never came back here, the other people I knew didn’t come back. “
Funerals to be online
Jim’s funeral will be broadcast online due to coronavirus restrictions on the number of people.
Kerensa said: “He loved a lot. We had a hard time keeping the numbers at 25 that he is allowed.
He said the circle of relatives had gained many moving messages from others who shared his memories of Jim.
The service, which will take place at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium in Sheffield, will take place at a. m. Friday, November 27.
Kerensa said that anyone who wants to see the rite online, touch the funeral director, G
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