John Gaffney - Name, Rank and Serial Number

Garry Hunter in "JG-82 MMVII - Name, Rank and Serial Number" tells the story of John Gaffney who was born in South Shields and lived at 187 South Frederick Street. John was only 18 when he enlisted. He had been an assistant warehouseman at Hardy's furniture dealers in South Shields.

John's battalion, the 10th Durham Light Infantry, landed at Gold Beach in Normandy in June 1944. They fought their way inland but close to Bayeux. He is believed to have been killed by mortar fire. His death was reported in the Shields Gazette and John's watch was returned to his family.

The watch was later passed onto Garry Hunter's father, Edward, who was a relative of John Gaffney. Just prior to Edward's death in 2002, he gave his son Garry the precious heirloom. “He told me 'this is one of things I want you to have'. I only had a vague idea of who John was and a rather abstract concept of the war when I was growing up, but later I decided to research the story."

In 2005, South Shields born Garry Hunter took a journey to the same beach as John Gaffney had landed on over sixty years earlier. Garry photographed the route John Gaffney would have taken, not using a high-definition camera but a Holga camera which produces slightly foggy blurred images with red sunlight bursts around the edges to reflect what John Gaffney would have seen as he landed on the Normandy beach and fought his way through the countryside. The final images, reflecting that John had been mortally wounded, are swirling photos and then a peaceful image staring into the sky. The final images are of the cemetery in Bayeux where John Gaffney is buried. Garry Hunter said: "It was late when I got there and most of the pillars with the names on were in shadow, but the sunlight was falling on the pillar with John Gaffney's name, which added to the poignancy to the end of both his and my journey".

Garry Hunter produced a book in 2005 called "JG-80 MMV - Name, Rank and Serial Number" to reflect that, in 2005, John Gaffney (JG) would have been eighty years old. In 2007, the book was reissued as “JG-82 MMVII - Name, Rank and Serial Number” with extra material added.