John Nicholson "Jock" Wilson MM (7 September 1903 – 29 September 2008) was a British serviceman, who was Great Britain's oldest

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

veteran. Wilson was a soldier in the 79th ( Scottish Horse) Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery. On 6 June 1944, during the Second World War, Wilson landed at

Juno Beach Juno or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War. The beach spanned from Courseulles, a village just east of the British beach Gold ...

and participated in the fighting that led to one of the biggest defeats for Germany.

Personal life before Second World War

John "Jock" Wilson was born on 7 September 1903 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He attended

Leith Academy Leith Academy is a state school in Leith, Edinburgh. It currently educates around 1000 pupils and around 2,800 part-time adult learners. Mike Irving has been head teacher since August 2017. History It is one of the oldest schools in Scotland, w ...

for his grammar school education. When he was fourteen, he began working at McNiven and Cameron's, who were the makers of the Waverley pens. Wilson met his wife, Lily (née Ross) during a tea party at a Marine Garden

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

in Seafield. They married in October 1934 in Morningside and had a daughter called Joyce in 1944. When Joyce was only two weeks old, Jock Wilson flew to Normandy to fight with the 79th Regiment of the Royal Artillery against Nazi Germany.

Second World War

Wilson joined the 79th Regiment of the Royal Artillery when many of his fellow soldiers were half his age. He was assigned to the radio division, which meant that his unit would land with the first group of soldiers on

, 6 June 1944. Under constant attack, he and his comrades assembled a radio station to transmit information about the enemy's movements which helped the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

determine where to deploy troops. Wilson was injured twice in the war and still had shrapnel in his arm after the war. He was awarded the Military Medal for his actions on 14 February 1945, near the village of Viller in the

Gennep Gennep () is a municipality and a city in upper southeastern Netherlands. It lies in the very northern part of the province of Limburg, 18 km south of Nijmegen. Furthermore, it lies on the right bank of the Meuse river, and south of the forest o ...

municipality of the Netherlands. He was acting as technical assistant to

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Fyffe who was attached to 1st Battalion, the Black Watch, as artillery observer, responsible for calling in artillery support and identifying targets. They had crossed the river

Niers The Niers (, ) is a river in Germany and The Netherlands, a right tributary of the river Maas (Meuse). Its wellspring is near Erkelenz, south of Mönchengladbach, in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). Course and length The Niers flows through Mö ...

in a Buffalo overnight, and established their observation post in a flour mill in the battalion bridgehead. At around 0830, the German forces launched a counterattack, supported by

self-propelled gun Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

s. Their observation post came under direct fire from two of these guns which scored 30–40 hits on the mill. Wilson was knocked down by the blast from one explosion, and hit by falling masonry but continued to assist Fyffe. Allied artillery was able to use the information provided to break up the counterattack. The award of the medal was gazetted on 24 May 1945.

Postwar life

After the death of his wife in 1964, he moved from Edinburgh to Dunbar so that he could live with Joyce and her husband, Tom. In that

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

town, he was considered a "central figure" at Remembrance Day services. During the Remembrance Services in 2001, Wilson placed a poppy on a memorial at the

Princes Street Gardens Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town, ...

. Wilson lived with his daughter for 43 years before moving to the Hollytrees Nursing Home in Belhaven Hospital in 2007.

Awards and honours

In addition to his Military Medal Wilson also received the Légion d'honneur, a prestigious military award of France, from

Gérard Errera Gérard Paul Errera (born 30 October 1943) is a French diplomat and serves as an advisor to a number of American, Chinese and French international firms. Early life and education Gérard Errera comes from a Jewish family, and was born in Bri ...

, the French ambassador, in London. When he was 90 years old, Wilson became an honorary member of the Dunbar and District Probus Club. He also received the "Our Forces Hero" award from the Daily Record and dedicated it to the soldiers who had lost their lives on D-Day in Normandy. In October 2004, Jock attended both the opening of the new Parliament in Edinburgh and Scotland's World Cup Qualifier against Norway at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

. He watched both events, which were 50 miles apart, in a limousine. Known for his sense of humour, when Wilson and other veterans were meeting dignitaries after an awards ceremony, he said to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, whom he had already met that day, "You know, madam, we'll have to stop meeting like this." Later, when he met the then-Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Wilson joked, "The only person to go into parliament with good intentions was Guy Fawkes, and he forgot his matches." Wilson celebrated his 105th birthday at the Dunbar Club and received a bottle of

malt Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...

. He also received a second birthday card from

, which was presented to him by

’s

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

, Garth Morrison, at the Belhaven Hospital. He had received the first card from the Queen on his 104th birthday.

Death and funeral service

Jock Wilson died in Dunbar, Scotland, on 29 September 2008, at the age of 105. His funeral service was held at the

Mortonhall Mortonhall is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the south edge of the city. The area is along the western end of the Frogston Road between Fairmilehead and Gilmerton; it is just to the south of Liberton and the Braid Hills. The area was t ...

Crematorium in Edinburgh. It was conducted by Charles Robertson, the Chaplain to the Normandy Veterans' Association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, John 1903 births 2008 deaths British Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Military Medal Scottish centenarians Men centenarians Military personnel from Edinburgh Scottish Horse soldiers People educated at Leith Academy Royal Artillery soldiers