One of Scotland’s last D-Day veterans has died aged 103.
John McOwan, a former sergeant in the Royal Auxiliary Ordnance Corps, and later the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, passed away at his home in Pebbles, in the Borders.
The 103-year-old was training as an optometrist when the Second World War broke out in September 1939. He took part in the Allied invasion landings at Salerno, Italy, in 1943 before going ashore on Gold Beach during the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, reports the Scottish Express.
Like many of his generation, he rarely spoke about his wartime experiences, though during the pandemic he wrote A Centenarian’s Memoirs of WWII by hand for his three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
After the war, John returned to Peebles in 1946 and joined his brother Kenneth in running the family jewellery shop, which they sold in 1991. He married Betty Reid in 1947, and the couple had one daughter, Eleanor. Betty passed away in 2000. In the 1950s, John made summer visits to a Dutch family in Eindhoven, where he had been billeted during the winter of 1944.
John was well-known in Peebles for his diverse interests, including beekeeping, ballroom dancing, and fly fishing for salmon and trout on the River Tweed. He was also a skilled gardener and an accomplished painter, specialising in acrylics and pastels. His artwork, which included local landscapes and a large French Impressionist-style crowd scene that he displayed proudly in his living room, was often sold in cafés or completed on commission, though he was said to care little about the money.
John’s D-Day heroism was recognised with France’s Légion d’Honneur, which he received last year. The medal became the centerpiece of a framed display of his honors, proudly placed above his fireplace.
At this year’s 80th D-Day commemoration on June 6, John joined fellow veterans and service personnel at the Peebles War Memorial. Military historian Sir Hew Strachan remarked: “John McOwan, now 103, went ashore on Gold Beach in Normandy, having already served in North Africa and Italy with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. We are privileged to be in his company.”
A memorial service for John was held on Friday, December 6, to honor his remarkable life and legacy.
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