"We are very proud of him": Preston World War Two hero and great-grandad turns 100

Jack Nuttall, born in Preston on April 7 1923, has reached the impressive milestone age following a life of great adventure and dancing…

Raised as a farmer’s son, Jack was conscripted to the war aged just 16, where he was first barracked at Carlisle Castle as a member of the Kings Own Regiment.

He trained as a crack marksmen – one who shoots at people from a concealed place – and was moved to Northern Ireland to train other conscriptees to use the Bren gun.

Jack was then moved to the Preston Barracks where he was in the East Yorkshire Regiment and deployed to the war ground. Abroad, he saw action between 1942-45, and worked under the renowned senior officer Bernarnd Montgomery, known as ‘Monty’.

After the war, the now decorated Jack was offered a post in the British Army but he turned it down to marry Doreen Turrie in 1945. The pair had met whilst Jack was stationed in Carlisle and they reunited again on his return to England.

They began their married life in Carlisle, having a son in 1947, but in 1953 they moved back to Preston, where Jack then had a career in the family’s construction business whilst Doreen worked in Preston’s Woolworths, before becoming a regional manager for BHS.

Having always had a love for dancing, when the pair both retired, they regularly attended Blackpool Tower Ballroom, with their son Mike adding, “in those days, back in the eighties, they had a screen outside showing pictures of people dancing on the ballroom, and for quite a while it was my dad!”

Doreen sadly passed away from an incurable condition in 2003, aged 80, but Jack found love again in 2005 with another “dancing lady”. He married the now 95-year-old Elizabeth (Betty), an ex semi-professional dancer on his 84th birthday in 1995, and the couple remain together to this day.

As well as his love for dance, Jack was involved with the British Legion throughout his life, alongside his elder brother Tom, an award winning standard bearer for the legion; and after having one child, Jack went on to have two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

For Jack’s 100th birthday, 76-year-old Mike, a former professional entertainer, organised a royal birthday card for his father, who he said was “over the moon with it”, and a celebratory gathering took place at Jack’s home on Good Friday, the same house he has lived in since 1953.

Mike, who was part of the backing group for Roger Whittaker for 13 years, told the Post: “Dad’s wartime activity is not something he likes to talk about, I only know a couple of details and I won't go into them. They were quite horrific though, so we are very proud of him.

“Why else am I proud of him? The fact that he’s reached 100 to start with, and he’s been a good example for me, and for our family. He’s just an amazing old man, I remember, walking up and down with him 20 odd years ago at the commemoration for Remembrance Sunday. He and my Uncle Tom were marching, their eldest sister was with us and we just stood and watched, that made me feel so proud.”