Tributes as Britain’s
oldest Royal Marine dies
aged 102

Albert Joyner also became the country’s oldest poppy seller and helped to raise tens of thousands of pounds on behalf of the Royal British Legion. His daughter, Pam Ruppe, 74, said her father’s wartime exploits as a Marine meant her memories of him start from when she was between five and seven.

She said: “He was a very social man, right up to the end. He liked to be with people. He liked a sing-song, that stays in your memories.”

Mr Joyner was an apprentice tailor before he joined the Marines in 1930. In 1932, while serving on HMS Dragon, he helped victims of a hurricane that devastated the Cayman Islands.

He served on the Arctic convoys during the Second World War, helping to deliver food and munitions to Russia. He was also involved in the defence and evacuation of Singapore and supported the Salerno landings during the Allied liberation of Italy in 1943.

Mr Joyner, from Keighley, retired in 1956, holding the rank of Colour Sergeant. He went on to become president of Bradford and District Royal Marines Association. In 2011, he was presented with a citizenship award on behalf of the Keighley Town Council by then-Deputy Mayor George Metcalf, who said: “It was a tremendous honour for me to present him with the award. Albert was a fantastic gentleman and soldier who always put other people first. Everyone loved him to bits.”

My Joyner, who had four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren, died on Thursday last week.

His funeral – a military occasion – will be held on March 28 at United Reformed Church in Riddlesden at 1.30pm.

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