TO MANY people, Pluto is Mickey Mouse’s sidekick in hundreds of Disney cartoon features, or a distant planet.

But turn the clock back 75 years, and PLUTO was the acronym for a vital component of the Allies’s war effort.

It stood for Pipe Line Under The Ocean, the ingenious scheme developed to get fuel to British, American and Canadian forces as they raced through Europe after D-Day.

Among the men behind the initiative was Ponteland’s John Gillespie, who braved minefields and many other perils to ensure the fuel got through.

He was part of a team that laid fuel pipelines from Liverpool to Emmerich, Germany, pumping a million gallons of petrol a day to support the Allied advances.

And now, at the age of 95, he is finally being recognised for his efforts by being presented with France’s highest military honour, the Legion d’Honneur

He will be presented with the prestigious award at a ceremony at Durham Cathedral tomorrow, alongside fellow veterans.

Born in Glasgow and educated to degree level in civil engineering, John joined Sir Robert McAlpine’s company in 1939 to carry out war work on the Clyde, and was a fire watcher during the Clydebank Blitz.

In 1942, he volunteered for the Royal Engineers to take a greater involvement in the war effort.

Following officer training in Aldershot, he worked on the construction of a number of army installations, which included Force PLUTO, Pipelines Under The Ocean.

On June 17, 1944, 11 days after D-Day, he set sail from Portsmouth Harbour for France, landing on Gold Beach at Arromanches, between Omaha and Juno beaches, on the first anniversary of his wedding to his wife, Ellen.

Petrol pipelines were established from an offshore mooring to the beach, where John’s team built 1,200 ton steel petrol storage tanks under camouflage nets, supplying the British, American and Canadian armies, as well as aviation fuel to the RAF.

The team battled their way through Boulogne, where they joined with other PLUTO pipelines, and on through France, Belgium, Holland and into Germany.

Following this, John’s company travelled on to the shores of the Baltic and beyond, capturing German rocket scientists who went on to play a major role in developing the US space programme.

Only the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki stopped him from moving on to serve in Japan.

After the war, he joined the Port of Tyne Authority, rising to become its managing director, and having been at the forefront of preparing for the development of the port for the export of cars from Nissan, in Washington, he played a significant role in using civil engineering to boost the regional and national economy.

He was made an OBE for his services, and was a leading member the Institution of Civil Engineers for many years.

John said: “The award of the Legion d’honneur, at the rank of Chevalier, or officer, has been a long time in coming, with talks taking longer than I believe many had hoped, but to receive this as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations, alongside so many other veterans, is wonderful.”

Director of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) North East, Penny Marshall,said: “John’s story is inspirational and shows the vital role that engineers played in the war effort.

“For him to receive the Legion d’Honneur is fitting recognition for what John achieved during the Second World War, but certainly nothing more than he deserves.”

“John’s work with Port of Tyne, from 1953 to 1983, and his ongoing support as a retired member of the ICE, has been an inspiration to everyone.”