User:Montgomery15/sandbox/Jack Smith

Jack Smith

Jack Smith
Born	Jack Smith 12 January 1922 Gosport, England
Died	6 June 2018 (aged 96) Portsmouth, England
Occupation	Sailmaker
Years active	1939–1980

Jack Smith (12 January 1922 – 6 June 2018) was an English former sailmaker from Gosport in Hampshire.

Early life

Smith was born in 1922 in Gosport. Living with his family on San Diego Road, he joined the army in 1939, giving his age as eighteen, to fight in the Second World War. He saw action over the next six years, taking part, alongside his elder brother Harry Smith, in the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944.

Harry was discharged from service soon after this due to 'shell shock', and Jack returned at the war's conclusion in 1945. At the age of 23, Jack married Ethel Gibson (1923–1995), and in May 1946 they had a daughter, Jacqueline. Another daughter, Susan, followed in August 1952.

Upon his return from service, Smith began a new career as a sailmaker, working in Portsmouth at the dockyard.

Career

During the 1950s, Smith was also employed as a handyman in the dockyard, working on ships including the Royal Yacht Britannia, and as a result had occasional, brief contact with several members of the royal family.

A capable amateur footballer in his youth, Smith played Sunday league football in Portsmouth at right-back during the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, eventually giving up the game in 1964, aged 42.

In 1977, Smith was part of a team tasked with raising an injured giraffe named Victor at Marwell Zoo onto a hoist so that the stricken animal could receive medical treatment; the incident received national press coverage, but the giraffe suffered a fatal heart attack shortly thereafter. In his later years, Smith mused that Victor's caretakers knew their companion's cause was hopeless, but that he and his team had to be seen to make an effort at saving him nonetheless.

He was retired from work in the dockyard in 1980, suffering from emphysema as a direct result of asbestos exposure.

Later life

After his retirement, Smith moved from Gosport into a flat in nearby Stubbington in the early 1990s, although Harry continued to live in the old family house on San Diego Road.

Jack and Ethel Smith had separated in the late 1980s, and Ethel died in 1995, aged 71.

Harry Smith died in January 2000, aged 81; the family home in Gosport was left unoccupied for some time, but was eventually sold.

In his later years, Smith continued to lead an active life, travelling by bus to neighbouring Fareham to shop and spending most days out. He was a regular custodian at Court Barn Conservative Club in Lee-on-the-Solent, which he had first frequented in the early 1970s. He enjoyed jazz music, often attending performances in Botley, which he considered his second home; in middle age, he had been a friend of Nat Gonella and socialised occasionally with the renowned musician.

Although affected by macular degeneration, Smith retained a positive outlook on life, saying that he remained active because when time is lost through idleness, ' you can't add it on at the end... '.

Smith attested that his extensive family was a source of great pride and motivation for him as he grew older; he died on 6 June 2018, the seventy-fourth anniversary of D-Day, in Portsmouth, aged 96. He was later cremated, his ashes being interred alongside his brother in Gosport on the first anniversary of his death in June 2019.