Obituaries (9 Viewers)

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F/Lt Ludwik Martel :salute:

Ludwik Martel was born on 5th March 1919.
Ludwik arrived in England in early 1940 and was commissioned in the RAF in May and transferred to the PAF on 6th August.

He joined 54 Squadron in mid-September 1940 and moved on to 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron on 28th. He claimed a Bf 109 destroyed on 5th October.
On the 25th October 1940, Ludwik was forced down in his Spitfire IIa P7350 by a ME 109, suffering a shrapnel wound to his left leg.

Ludwik was posted to 317 Squadron on 19th March 1941.
He was rested on 28th January 1942, being posted to 58 OTU at Grangemouth as an instructor, before returning to 317 Squadron on 25th August.

Ludwik went to West Kirby on 13th February 1943 to prepare for overseas, and on 13th March arrived in the Middle East in a C-47 with other Polish pilots to form the Polish Fighting Team, otherwise known as 'Skalski's Circus'.
They were attached to 145 Squadron and operated in the Western Desert from 17th March to 12th May 1943, and destroyed 30 enemy aircraft.
Ludwik damaged a FW 190 on 4th April and on 20th, he destroyed a Bf 109 and damaged a Mc 200.

Back in the UK he returned to 317 Squadron on 22nd July 1943.
He was posted to 16 FTS, Newton on 20th August, but went back to 317 Squadron on 4th November, as a Flight Commander.
Tour-expired, Ludwik was posted to HQ PAF on 12th September 1944.
He was attached to the School of Air Support at Old Sarum on 4th March 1945 for a course, before being posted to HQ BAFO Operations Room in January 1946.

Ludwik served with 131 Wing from 14th October 1946 until released from the PAF in January 1947.

Ludwik Martel passed away after a long illness on April 25, 2010.
 
As posted by Kurt Braatz over on TOCH:

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Last week, Rudolf Opitz passed away in his home in Connecticut. 'Pitz', one of Germany's most famous test pilots, was nearing his 100th birthday. Widely known as one of the key people in developing and flying the Me 163 rocket interceptor, he saw combat from mid-1944 as Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 400, the first and last fighter wing in aviation history to operate rocket-powered aircraft. 'Operation Paperclip' made him emigrate to the U.S. in 1945. He became an U.S. citizen and managed to continue his career as a test pilot at Avco-Lycoming. Having been inducted to the National Soaring Hall of Fame, he had amassed some 10.000 hours of flight time in innumerable types and more than 5.000 dead stick landings.

A remarkable career.
 
Marguerite Garden :salute:
Marguerite Garden, who died on May 5 aged 84, was a Scottish grandmother who, as a 14-year-old schoolgirl in occupied Brittany, risked her life daily to work as a courier for British military intelligence and helped Allied airmen escape across the sea.
August 1940 Marguerite Vourc'h, as she then was, returned home from boarding school in Paris to find her home village of Plomodiern, in western Brittany, occupied by German troops. Though the Resistance was virtually non-existent at the time, her father, Antoine, the local doctor, sought out sympathisers on his rounds; meanwhile Marguerite, in pretended innocence, established from her friends where their families' sympathies lay.

When her brother Jean returned home from the war, she helped him and some friends escape to England disguised as fishermen. They soon returned to Brittany, trained and with a couple of radios.

Perched on a hillside, about three miles from the coast, Plomodiern was the perfect spot from which to track the movements of German boats in the Bay of Dournenez, and Marguerite soon showed her true potential.

For days on end she would cycle round the local coastline, gathering intelligence on soldiers, boats and mines, which was duly relayed to MI6. Increasingly, her work brought her into contact with the Resistance as she helped deliver false identity cards to the networks. No one took a 14-year-old schoolgirl on holiday for a spy, and she managed to continue her work even after part of the family home was commandeered to billet Gestapo and Wehrmacht officers in January 1941.

One day she was going to collect eggs and spotted a tall mast with strange wires in a local field. The farmer's wife, assuming she was just a nosy child, told her it was for sending messages to the German submarines. Within three days the RAF had destroyed the mast.

During term time Marguerite continued to study in Paris, but at half-term and holidays she would resume her spying. School provided her with perfect cover for carrying messages and parcels between her local Resistance network and another in Paris. When she returned to Paris, hidden among her school books were folders bulging with military information. "There was no reason to suspect me," she recalled. "I was a young girl, travelling to my school. I was never arrested."

As the war progressed, Marguerite became involved in helping Allied airmen escape to Britain by hiding them in lobster boats. She also passed on information about German ship positions which a family friend, a Madame Le Roux, managed to extract from an unsuspecting harbourmaster.

When Madame Le Roux was arrested at the Vourc'h family home, the Germans at first failed to make any connection. But, fearful of what she might say under interrogation, Marguerite's father made his escape, eventually finding his way to North Africa. When the Gestapo eventually turned up on the family doorstep Marguerite's mother informed them that he had abandoned his family. They believed her and Marguerite did not come under suspicion.

As the war approached its denouement Marguerite and her mother were joined by Jean-Claude Camors (code-named Raoll), a Resistance friend of her brother.

Together they planned an operation to repatriate some 40 Allied airmen who were then hiding in Brittany.

The airmen were duly assembled, but before they could put the plan into action, Raoll was recognised by a German double agent and shot. His death meant Marguerite and her mother had to find a place to hide the airmen and a way to feed them. They approached the local priest, who agreed to hide them in his church. The men hid there for days, while the Resistance waited for a chance to get them home.

The successful escape of the airmen, however, was to be the undoing of Marguerite as, when the men arrived in Britain, the BBC broadcast a coded message that the "fourth son of a doctor of Brittany" had arrived. It was too obviously a reference to Marguerite's family, and the Gestapo soon came calling once again.

Marguerite was at school at the time and her mother was visiting the Breton town of Quimper. Warned by friends not to come home, they hid in a run-down apartment in Paris.

But Marguerite's younger sisters, aged four, six and eight, were left behind and had to face the wrath of the Gestapo: "They'd wake the girls up in the middle of the night, holding their rifles to the girls' faces," Marguerite recalled. "They would do anything they could to terrify them into saying where mother was. But it didn't work."

A few months later Paris was liberated.

The sixth of nine children, Marguerite Vourc'h was born on January 25 1926 at Plomodiern, in the Finistère department, where her father was both the village doctor and a local councillor. A veteran of the First World War, he had been awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'honneur. Marguerite was educated locally and at the Maison d'education de la Légion d'honneur at St Denis, just outside Paris.

After emerging from hiding during the liberation of Paris in August 1944, Marguerite had the harrowing task of locating and bringing back to her mother the body of her brother Jean, who had been mortally wounded at Versailles during the battle for Paris.

After the war she went on to study Architecture at the Beaux Arts in Paris, but cut her studies short when she met James Garden, a Scottish army surgeon visiting Paris on holiday. She followed him to Scotland against the wishes of her father, and they married in 1949, eventually settling in Lanark, where her husband became a prominent orthopaedic surgeon.

A keen amateur naturalist, Marguerite Garden was a prime mover in founding the Corehouse Nature Reserve, which is now run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and supported many other conservation projects in South Lanarkshire. She served for many years in the Red Cross and worked tirelessly in collecting funds each year for the Poppy Appeal for the Royal British Legion.

After the war she received a handwritten letter of thanks from the Air Chief Marshal for her help in securing the freedom of many of his men, but for many decades her story went untold for the simple reason that she had remained true to her orders to remain silent.

In 2003, however, her contribution was recognised belatedly by the French government and she was appointed a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. In the same year she was nominated for a "Woman of the Year" award, and in 2004 her story formed part of a BBC2 documentary, Crafty Tricks of War. "It wasn't bravery, it was necessity," she recalled. "It was sad and frightening. But there was something about those days, maybe it was the adrenalin. I have never been so alive."

Marguerite Garden's husband predeceased her in 1992, and she is survived by her seven children.

source: The Telegraph
 
Edward Finch, 99 years, 2 months, 11 days, another of our country's World War II vets, has gone to be with his heavenly Father, Sunday, May 9, 2010.
Funeral: 10 a.m. Wednesday at Bedford Baptist Temple of Bedford. Burial: 2:30 p.m. in Truce Cemetery in Jack County. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Mount Olivet Funeral Home.
Memorials: In lieu of flowers you may send to Alpha-Omega Hospice or to Bedford Baptist Building fund.
Ed Finch was born Feb. 27, 1911, in Jack County. He married Valrie Rowland in 1934, they had a long marriage of 74 years. They were married in Quanah, where they both worked in farming for their families. Ed's longtime work was in construction.
He served with pride and dignity in the U.S. Navy and was a lifetime member of River Oaks Masonic Lodge.
He was preceded in death by wife, Valrie; granddaughters, Nancy Kempe and Misty Finch; father and mother, Clarence and Amy Finch; brothers, Bluford, Bernie, Darrell and Percy Gene Finch.
Survivors: Sons, Nathan Finch and wife, Mava, of Hurst, Donnie Finch and wife, Linda, of Euless and Ronnie Finch and wife, Talonda, of Kemp; daughters, Cleta Kempe and husband, Billy, of Keller, Mirion Simmons and husband, Gene, of Azle; 20 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; 15 great-great-grandchildren; brother, Douglas Finch and wife, Bonnie; sister, Trudy Stapelton and husband, James; and a great number of nieces, nephews and friends.

Read more: Edward Finch Obituary: View Edward Finch's Obituary by Star-Telegram



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Lloyd Howard Shaw, a World War II veteran and longtime resident of Fort Worth, passed away Saturday, May 1, 2010, at the age of 96.
Funeral: 1 p.m. Tuesday at Thompson's Harveson Cole Funeral Home where his family will greet friends beginning at noon. Interment: 1 p.m. Thursday in Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Okla.
Memorials: Gifts in his memory may be made to the building fund at Arborlawn United Methodist Church, 5001 Briarhaven Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76109.
Lloyd was born July 27, 1913, in Ennis County, son of the late Walter T. and Lilly Taylor Shaw. He married Edna Mae McClintock on April 18, 1936. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943-1945 aboard the USS Hector in the South Pacific. He was with the fleet during the battle for the Philippines. In the late 1940s he served as the VFW Post commander in Weatherford, Okla.
Shortly after the war, Lloyd started his own construction company. He moved to Fort Worth in 1969 where he resided until his death. A longtime member of Arborlawn United Methodist Church, he loved to fish and owned a small bass boat for many years until Mae forced him to sell it after he backed the boat, trailer and pickup into Lake Benbrook.
In addition to his parents, Lloyd was preceded in death by all of his siblings.
Survivors: His wife of 74 years, Edna Mae; son, Robert Lloyd Shaw; and grandson, Darren Lloyd Shaw.

Read more: Lloyd Howard Shaw Obituary: View Lloyd Shaw's Obituary by Star-Telegram



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Earnest Wilson, 102, a retired grocer and World War II veteran, entered rest Monday, April 12, 2010.
Funeral: 11 a.m. Monday, April 19, at Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, 4628 Avenue J. Burial: Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery


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Ernest Willie Worthey, 90, a father, grandfather, great-grandfather and World War II veteran, died Sunday, April 11, 2010, at a local healthcare center.
Graveside service: 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Roselawn Memorial Park, 3801 Roselawn Drive, Denton. Visitation: Relatives and friends are welcome for visitation 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Denton Funeral Home, 120 S Carroll Blvd., Denton.
Ernest was born March 15, 1920, in a farm house located south of Denton, to the late Mary and John Worthey. As a boy, he attended school in a three-room school house at Pilot Knob and later graduated from Denton High School in 1938. Ernest volunteered and served in the Army Air Force during World War II and was stationed on the Island of Guam. He attained the rank of technical sergeant and was in charge of the platoon that provided maintenance on B-29 planes, including the Enola Gay. On Oct. 28, 1943, he was united in marriage to Martha Elizabeth Pritchard in Macon, Ga., while serving in the military.
After being discharged from the service, Nov. 22, 1945, Ernest purchased a farm located northeast of Denton near the Mustang Community. In the year 1951 he began a career at Bell Helicopter and still managed to work his farm. Ernest was blessed with four children and remained in the Pilot Point area until 1980.
Later, Ernest married Karlene McClary, his teenage sweetheart, on Oct. 21, 1982. They both resided in North Richland Hills for many years. After 33 years of service he retired from Bell Helicopter in 1984. After retiring, Ernest became an avid bowler and serve on several league boards in the North Richland Hills area. Ernest was a member of the North Richland Hills Baptist Church.

Read more: Ernest Willie Worthey Obituary: View Ernest Worthey's Obituary by Star-Telegram

Visitation: 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at historic Baker Funeral Home, with a wake at 4 p.m.
Earnest Wilson was born July 1, 1907, in Lane, La. He owned and operated a local grocery store in addition to raising and running champion greyhounds.
Earnest was preceded in death by his wife, Cora; daughter, Peggy Jo McNeal; mother, Emma Fuller; brother, William Fuller; and aunt, Josephine "Lil Auntie" Sanders.
Survivors: His son, Darrell Kelley; granddaughter, Marsha Griggs; cousin, Lorine Peoples; his caregiver, Joyce Smith; and a host of other family members and friends.
Published in Star-Telegram on April 15, 2010

Read more: Earnest Wilson Obituary: View Earnest Wilson's Obituary by Star-Telegram
 
John Kempe :salute:

John Kempe, who died on May 10 aged 92, was headmaster of Gordonstoun from 1968 to 1978; he was also a noted mountaineer and served as a fighter pilot during the Second World War.
Gordonstoun was already famous as the alma mater of the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales; under Kempe, it also educated Prince Andrew and then Prince Edward, who arrived just before the headmaster retired.

The school's other claim to fame was its spartan regime: boys were required to go for a dawn run, whatever the weather, and to take two cold showers a day. But while Kempe retained these traditions, he was also an innovator, in 1972 admitting girls who, within three years, made up nearly a quarter of the pupils.
To coincide with this seismic development, Kempe allowed the boys the option of wearing trousers (until then shorts had been compulsory throughout the school, and many boys chose to continue wearing them); the girls, meanwhile, wore skirts of the Gordonstoun tartan.

There were other changes. Kempe introduced the summer school at Gordonstoun, which proved both popular and lucrative. He brought in the "school visitor" – a poet or musician, for example, who would live at the school for a couple of months at a time. (Among those who took up the post was the South African poet and novelist Christopher Hope, who had chosen exile in Britain because of his opposition to apartheid.)

Kempe also introduced individual tutors for sixth form pupils, and – every Friday, again for the sixth form – special lectures by eminent men and women who talked on a wide variety of topics. The headmaster himself taught classes in English, logic and philosophy, and would invite groups of pupils to his house for tea, sherry or his own home-brewed beer.

Before his time at Gordonstoun, Kempe was widely known in the mountaineering world. He was a member of the Alpine Club, having climbed extensively in the Alps, and played a notable role in the first ascent of Kanchenjunga ("The Five Treasures of Snows") in north-east Nepal, at 28,169ft the world's third highest mountain.

In 1951 Kempe had been appointed founding principal of Hyderabad Public School in India, and among his first acts had been to ensure that the dates of the school holidays coincided with the Himalayan climbing season.

At that time Kanchenjunga had never been climbed – indeed, some considered it unscalable – but in 1953, with the Welshman Gilmour Lewis, Kempe undertook a reconnaissance. The next year they returned with a stronger party to examine the mountain's south-west face, and their report concluded that the climb might after all be possible.

This attracted the interest of John Hunt (fresh from the conquest of Everest) and the Himalayan Joint Committee, which in 1955 sent what is known as a "reconnaissance in force", led by Charles Evans. Also in the party were the British climbers George Band and Joe Brown, who became the first to reach the summit of Kanchenjunga. Band has said that the achievement would never have been possible without the earlier work of John Kempe.

In 1956 (by which time he was headmaster of Corby Grammar School in Northamptonshire) Kempe was the leader of an expedition to the Peruvian Andes which climbed Huagaruncho, the first time the 18,797ft peak had been conquered. Legend had it that the Incas had reached the summit, where they were supposed to have planted a gold cross (no such thing was found).

This was to be Kempe's final expedition. He gave up climbing in 1957 after marrying his wife, Barbara Huxtable, the daughter of an Australian doctor who had won an MC and Bar at the Battle of the Somme.

John William Rolfe Kempe was born in Nairobi on October 29 1917, the son of an officer in the Colonial Service. When John was four his father died of a fever, and his mother took her young son and daughter to live at her family's home in Norfolk. John was educated at Stowe and Clare College, Cambridge, where he read Economics and Mathematics. At Cambridge he also joined the University Air Squadron – of the 22 undergraduates who trained with him at Duxford, only two others were to survive the war.

Kempe was about to enter the Indian civil service when war was declared, and he volunteered for the RAF. In 1941 he was posted to No 602 Squadron, flying Spitfires, and in May the next year promoted to squadron leader. The next year he was mentioned in despatches.

In June 1944 he was posted No 125 Squadron, flying Mosquitos. From a base in North Africa he escorted convoys making for Malta. He commanded Nos 153 and 255 Night Fighter Squadrons, and in 1945 was posted to Algiers as chief test pilot (Middle East). Shortly before being demobilised in 1946 he was again mentioned in despatches.

After the war Kempe worked briefly at the Board of Trade and in private business, but found himself dissatisfied and restless. Discovering that his former housemaster at Stowe was now teaching at Gordonstoun, Kempe wrote to ask if there was a vacancy for a mathematics teacher. There was, and he got the job.

It was after only three years in Scotland that Kempe was invited to Hyderabad, the brief being to create a facsimile of an English public school. In 1955 he was appointed head of the grammar school at Corby, the Northamptonshire steel town, where he remained until 1967.

Kempe was a member of the Mount Everest Foundation committee (1956–62) and chairman of the Round Square International Service Committee (1979–87), through which young people undertake voluntary work in developing countries. He was also vice-chairman of the European Atlantic Movement Committee from 1982 to 1992 (and its vice-president thereafter), and a trustee of the University of Cambridge Kurt Hahn Trust from 1986 to 1989.

He was appointed CVO in 1980.

As well as articles in various journals, he published A Family History of the Kempes (1991).

John Kempe is survived by his wife and by their two sons and one daughter.

source: The Telegraph
 
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