An almost blind pensioner who served in the RAF here in the 60s returned to the island recently for a parachute jump. ALEXIA EVRIPIDOU meets an octogenarian who shows no sign of slowing down
The interview begins abruptly, before even getting a chance to properly settle into the comfy seats of the Golden Bay Hotel in Larnaca. Not missing a beat, former member of the Royal Air Force (RAF) John Robinson seizes the reins and with concise clarity dictates his terms and conditions for this interview. I am feeling both a little intimidated and in awe of this tall, lithe man wearing sunglasses indoors.
Born in Britain, 83-year-old John and his gently spoken 80-year-old wife Ellen visited Cyprus recently, not to relax aching bones, but so John can complete a freefall tandem parachute jump for charity. The charity in question this time is the Blind Veterans UK. A refreshingly unusual way for a man in his position to raise money for others, yet not a total surprise at his choice of charities, as John has been registered officially blind since 2002. The result of an unfortunate light bulb explosion at grammar school cost him his sight in one eye at the age of 18 and eventually time took the other.
With the demeanor of a typical English gentleman and the youthful excitement of a 19-year-old boy, John begins straightforwardly. “There are three important elements here, two of them are people, and one; what I’m doing this for”. He stands up and shows off a t-shirt with the writing ‘The Blind Veterans sky dive 2014’. “They have looked after about 5,000 ex servicemen and women who’ve gone blind”.
The jump in question involved John leaping out of a plane in Dhekelia at 12,000 feet strapped to another man while the force of gravity accelerated them towards the earth for 12 seconds until the friction of the air, balanced the pull of gravity and they stopped accelerating, and began falling at a speed of 125m/h in a face to earth position. Not an inconsequential jump and one which most people would not even consider doing with youth and 20/20 vision on their side, let alone if they were blind, aged 83 and having arrived just the day before.
It’s obvious that this man, whose voice is full of excitement, sees “obstacles only as objects to overcome”. His life stories burst out jovially while sitting beside his supportive and beloved wife of 60 years. The love and respect between them is unquestionable. “One of the reasons Ellen and I get on so well, is that we are different people but we have something very old fashioned in common and it’s called love. Plus we like going on adventures together”.
Seeking the help of his friend, retired Warrant Officer Steven Thomas and three other professional parachute instructors, John successfully achieved his goal of freefalling with other people. Steven had the responsibility of taking the photographs and video while parachuting along side the others. This left John, his tandem partner and the two others free to navigate into a circle, holding hands while falling without parachutes. This was not John’s first jump. “Once I’d done the first jump back in 2010, I wanted to do four. I had to finish on three, due to an important eye operation I needed to have, but have now come to complete the fourth”. The operation was able to save 1/60th vision in only one eye.
As a Parachute Jumping instructor for the RAF between 1959 an 1972, John had succeeded in over 1,120 parachute jumps including 700 free fall, 70 of which where from 20,000-25,000 feet (which required oxygen masks). John performed these four recent tandem jumps after a 40-year parachuting break. The first of the four tandem jumps was carried out when he and Ellen decided to retire to Limassol. Although it was the first time parachuting since becoming completely blind, he found it a bit boring. For the second jump, he managed to convince the instructor to do some turns, including a 360 degree rotation. By the third one, he opted to perform the tracking position, which is the technique of assuming a body position that allows the skydiver to move horizontally while freefalling.
“It’s the confidence and the comradeship in the other people, that you know will make it go well,” he explains. “Once you are in the parachute world there is a comradeship like no other. When you’re up in the air and about to freefall, the parachutes have to be checked before jumping. Since they’re on your back, someone else has to check it for you; it doesn’t matter whether you are a corporal or a brigadier or a major general; he’s got to trust you, so you have this comradeship whatever your rank”.
At 18 he was enlisted for National Service but wasn’t allowed to join up, being deemed unfit, due to the blindness in one eye. This was not easy for John, being the son of a powerful military man he had felt it a right of passage, a boy’s duty. Being denied the right to live up to his father who was commissioned in battle in 1917 by the king greatly affected their already strained relationship.
John met and married Ellen, a trainee nurse, in his early 20s after which he went to college and received a diploma in Physical Education (PE). At the age of 25, he saw an advert for five-year short Service Commissions for teachers who had a PE qualification. He excelled in the week-long interviews but had to face the realistic pitfall of the medical exam, which would unearth his blindness. As it so happened, in 1956 the air-force physical fitness branch was going through a restructure. He was number 20 of the people interviewed, but they needed 50 altogether. So, a blind eye was turned and he joined the air force.
Animated, John loves to entwine humour and jokes between his stories. “Rules are meant to be bent, because I should have never been in the air-force”.
After two years he wanted something more interesting. His department offered two choices: mountain rescue or parachuting. For parachuting you had to be aircrew and have two good eyes. He had one out of the two but luckily for John, he was examined by a junior medical officer, who didn’t know the rules. As no one can tell John’s disability by looking at him, the officer never thought to check John’s eyes “and who was I to tell him” he smirks.
John started his training. However, British aircrew required a medical examination every year. Finally his turn had come, but someone how he happened to be away parachuting that day; missing the annual medical.
The second time, they caught up with him. But there was another stroke of luck. John now breaks out into song “luck be a lady tonight, luck be a lady tonight” and continues. “I have a friend who’s a doctor; we have parachuted together. By that point, it had come to light that a fair amount of officers had eye problems and as I had carried out over 200 jumps they let me continue”.
In 1962 he made his first visit to the island and brought his wife and four children with him when he was posted here. They lived outside the barracks in an old Turkish home that Ellen chose to allow their children to integrate with the local children. Consequently, John learnt Greek and flips between English and the odd Greek sentence throughout the interview. He makes a specific point to emphasize that he can correctly pronounce the word ‘Troodos’.
They arrived in Cyprus on December 6 and 11 days later he was called to the island of Castellorizo as the leader of the Near East Air Force team to carry out a rescue. This was the first rescue the team was to carry out since its creation in 1953. The original purpose of the team was to protect the then princess Elizabeth on her visit to Kenya with her husband Prince Phillip.
A pregnant Greek lady who was hemorrhaging was in need of medical assistance, but with the mountainous terrain of the island being so rocky; it had made it incredibly difficult to parachute onto. With the heavy rains of winter, the team’s doctor suggested turning back. However, as leader of the six-man group John would not hear of it. He made the necessary calculations and enabled the team to jump in, saving the life of the woman. It would be several years on when John was to receive a letter from the then unborn daughter of the woman saved to thank them for saving their lives.
Subsequently, John was invited to dine at Totoi palace by Queen Federica and King Pavlos of Greece. “We will go visit King Constantine, their son, who lives in England when we go back now to the UK. I will contact him and show him the picture of when he met his parents,” John informs me. Once again, there is little doubt that this man who believes that life is for the living, will not be knocking on the King’s door shortly.
After leaving Cyprus in 1966, Ellen craved stability so they moved back to England, bought a home and spent 40 happy years in it. Until the itchy feet began and they sold up and moved to Cyprus for an extended three-year holiday. By which point, they had already travelled the world together, both for work and especially pleasure.
21 years of retirement later and there is no sign of either of them slowing down. “We are busy doing something all the time, that is why we are going to live another 25 years,” John explains earnestly. His doctor once asked John how long he wanted to live and John mentioned the 25-year plan. The doctor suggested “two things: keep walking and keep taking the medication”.
Therefore, the next logical step for the couple to take when John was registered blind in 2002 was to start raising money for charity. John had asked himself what he was going to do about the blindness situation and, ever the optimist, he concluded that with 1/60th ability to see in one eye he still had a little bit of sight. Therefore, he had lots more left to do.
They were inspired to do charity work for two reasons: one to thank god for the staff that saved what little vision he had left and secondly to help others who were far worse off than him. Their first endeavor raised money for guide dogs, and then they helped local hospices.
The couple have raised over £22,000 to date. They began with organising concerts in churches with brass bands and choirs. During 2007, during their second move to Cyprus, they held a charity May Fair and raised £680 for ‘friends for life’ hospice in Limassol.
John and Ellen have now moved back to Wigan where they first met so many years ago. Their children are now in their 50s; they have 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
John is already planning his next adventure. In 2015, he will publish a book of poetry, in 2016 he’s been encouraged to write his memoirs, in 2017 he will write a book of short stories from his life, and as yet, he doesn’t have anything planned for 2018!
