Jack Quaintance: “At the beginning of the war I worked in a chemical factory in Sheerness, where I was also a messenger for the ARP wardens. I joined the Queenborough Home Guard when I was 16. Before the war I was a member of the local small-bore shooting club so I could already handle a rifle.
In 1941 I was approached by a local farmer, Lieutenant W G Johnson, who asked if I wanted to join some rough stuff. I signed the Official Secrets Act and reported to a farm at Cowstead Corner belonging to Lieutenant Johnson. Our OB was under the stockyard, but it was never finished and we never used it.
If the Germans had invaded we didn’t expect to last long, but we were young and well prepared to get on with the job. Let the bastards come. In the beginning we believed the Germans would come at any moment, but as the war went on this subsided. Prior to D - Day in June 1944 we were offered a crash course in parachuting and told that we were going to be dropped behind German lines in Normandy, but nothing came of it.
We were eventually stood down in November 1944 and returned to our normal lives. We never received any official recognition at the time, but I later received the Defence Medal. I joined the Royal Navy early 1945 and served on HMS Ajax. As soon as the war ended we were sent to the River Platte, Uruguay, to pick up the German sailors from the Graf Spee. I later served in Palestine and Israel.”
| Unit or location | Role | Posted from | until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queenborough Patrol | Patrol member | 17 Jun 1941 | 03 Dec 1944 |
Chemical factory worker
In the town of Ajax, Ontario in Canada there is a street named after Jack, Quaintance Avenue. The town was named after HMS Ajax after a vote amongst local residents, most of whom worked at a large munitions factory. Many of the streets as the town expanded were named for members of the crew.
After Jack’s service with the Royal Navy he was transferred to the Merchant Navy, serving twelve years out of thirty-three on deep sea work. In 1957 a job with Trinity House brought Jack to Harwich. He joined the Grange Band (later called the Harwich Royal British Legion Band) in 1959 and played with them well into his eighties. He was also secretary of the HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association. Jack suffered a stroke in early 2005, and died on March 30, 2006.
TNA ref WO199/3390 &1
1939 Register
Adrian Westwood
Kentonline.co.uk 14 March 2002
Information from kentauxiliaryunits.org.uk - no longer online