At the war crimes trial (one of the first of its kind in World War II), the commandant was tried, found guilty of murder, and hanged. John had managed to escape into Switzerland in December 1943 after the Italian capitulation: he and the Commando officer were the principal witnesses at the trial. He had spent the rest of the war as an instructor at Sandhurst.
He also took part in a bizarre, but wholly typical, wager with another 4th CLY officer early one Sunday morning in late 1940. The bet involved playing a single hole from the “tee” at the main entrance to the Stock Exchange to the front door (deemed to be the “hole”) of Whites Club in Pall Mall. The distance is nearly two miles; sadly the winner of the wager is not recorded.
John died on 10th April 1997 just ten days after his ninetieth birthday.