Jim Churm obituary

My father, Jim Churm, who has died aged 102, was a D-day veteran and former Royal Navy medic; he later enjoyed a long career in nursing and physiotherapy.Jim joined the navy as an 18-year-old during the second world war and trained as a sick berth attendant before being assigned to landing craft operations. On D-day, 6 June 1944, he sailed from Newhaven in East Sussex as the leading medic aboard a landing craft involved in the assault on Sword Beach, one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the allied invasion of France.Jim Churm in service during the second world warHis primary responsibility was to care for sick and injured personnel, but with crews stretched to their limits, he also helped operate winches and undertook general seamanship duties. He had to be ready to transfer between vessels whenever medical assistance was needed.Jim made two crossings from Britain to Normandy on landing craft that were particularly vulnerable to enemy mines, lacking the protective equipment fitted to larger naval vessels. Afterwards he spent a short time back in the UK before being posted to Egypt.After the war he qualified as a nurse, specialising in orthopaedics in Birmingham before undertaking physiotherapy training in Liverpool and then becoming a chartered physiotherapist, first in Leicester and then in Blackburn at the Queen’s Park hospital and Blackburn Royal Infirmary.Later he took on private work at Our Lady of Compassion hospital in the town and had his own surgeries in Accrington and Blackburn. For a time, in the late 1960s, he was also the physiotherapist for two local football clubs, Blackburn Rovers and Accrington Stanley.Born in Nottingham, he was the son of Arthur, an oil industry worker, and his wife, Miriam (nee Cooper), who divorced when Jim was young. After attending Claremont school in Nottingham he joined the navy despite having secured an apprenticeship with a butcher, which was a reserved wartime occupation.In later life Jim was quietly proud of the small part he played in the liberation of France, and was keen to emphasise the often-overlooked role of landing craft crews, without whom the troops could not have reached the beaches. He was a committed supporter of remembrance activities and regularly attended Royal British Legion Scotland events, where his experiences, wisdom and humility were greatly valued.In retirement he and his wife, Sheila (nee Cahill), who was also a physiotherapist and whom he married in 1952, retired to Crossmichael in Kirkcudbrightshire, where they made their home for more than 30 years. Jim became a much-loved member of the local community and particularly enjoyed fishing on Loch Ken.His 100th birthday was celebrated with a surprise performance by the Royal Marines Band, Scotland, and in 2025 he was made a chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by the French ambassador at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, during a concert commemorating the 80th anniversary of VE Day.His life, however, was defined as much by his devotion to family, and by his kindness and commitment to helping others as by his wartime experiences.Sheila died in 2018; Jim is survived by their three sons, David, Michael and me, 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.