Obituaries

Thanks for the story Flyboy!

syscom3 said:

Thanks for the story Flyboy!

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A few years ago Australian Army Nurse Vivienne Bullwinkle Passed away. She lived in Western Australia and served with the Australian Corp of Nurses in Singapore. She with other nurses left Singapore after being evacuated by ship. Her ship she was travelling on was sunk by Japanese forces in the area of Indonesia. She with other people being evacuated from Singapore struggled to one of the islands of Indonesia. Many wounded sick and injuried personal came ashore with her. It was decided to surrender to a force of Japanese soldiers in the area. All survivors including Nurse Bullwinkle were promptly Marched back into the sea by the Japanese and were imediately machine gunned to death. Nurse Bullwinkle was wounded but survived this ordeal. She was later found taken to another POW camp and spent 3 1/2 years in captivity under the Japanese. She later testified in War Crime Tribunal to what occured to her and her fellow survivors who were butchered by the Japanese. We tend to forget at times women who served in our militaries. We must never forget the sacrifices these women like Vivienne Bullwinkle went through. In God's care we entrust Nurse Vivienne Bullwinkle

From Associated Press today - Leo "Shorty" Gordon, shot down and parachuted from a B-17 belonging to the 305th Bomb Group Febr. 26, 1943, has died. Shorty is notable as the first confirmed American POW escapee. After two failed attempts escaping from Stalag IVA, he made a successful attempt and arrived abck in England Febr. 27, 1944.

Shorty was 84 years old.

my mom's close friend Hank was in the Belgian resistance during WWII, was telling storys about how he was working on a He-111 and sabatagod the engine but was caught but the guy let him go

It is with profound sadness that I report the death of a good friend, James Lidia. Jim had worked in all kinds of aviation related industries during his lifetime and instructed young RAF pilots how to fly at Falcon Field in Mesa Arizona in the late 1930s/early 1940s. He passed away late last night. He was 90 years old.

In his life, he flew DC-2s with Braniff, built airplanes with Vought, taught RAF pilots to fly and fight and many other things. He was a quiet and friendly guy that lit up when he talked about airplanes and flying. He was likely my biggest aviation photography fan. He has now gone west, but will forever be in my memory. I am happy that he can now be reunited with his beloved wife, who he never stopped missing or loving after she passed.

Rest well Jim, and thanks for everything.

He lived a good long life at least. RIP, Jim.

Elliott "Doc" Pood passes away

Last night, at his home in Hattiesburg, MS., Doc Pood died of cardiac failure. As his partner Bob "No Neck" West put it, "we have lost a very dear friend, Public Affairs Officer of TORA, TORA, TORA, strong supporter of the CAF as well as the entire pyrotechnic industry, a great head of the ICAS Pyro Safety Committee and an all around good fellow." Doc leaves his wife (and mother of their three children) Bonnie, son Ken (married), and two daughters Lindsey and Elise. Elliott was also the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Southern Mississippi. Please keep his family and many friends in your thoughts and prayers to help them on this current journey. The funeral service will be held Sunday at 2:00 PM at the Heritage United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Elliott and Bonnie Pood Scholarship Endowment Fund through The University of Southern Mississippi Foundation, 118 College Drive #5004, Hattiesburg, MS 39406. The fund will provide scholarships for outstanding undergraduate students in speech communication.

If you would like to send a card to the family their address is listed below.

Mrs. Bonnie W. Pood
104 Cottoncreek Dr.
Hattiesburg, MS 39402-7610

Art Buchwald passed away as well. He was a noted American humorist and few people know that he served in the Marines during WWII:

When he turned 17 in 1942, he ran away to join the Marines. Told that he would need parental consent to become a leatherneck, the underage Buchwald reportedly enlisted a drunk who, for a pint of whiskey, agreed to pose as his father.

Buchwald, who came to love the armed forces, served in the Pacific theater until 1945. Most of the time, he was stationed on Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands, where he edited his outfit's newspaper. He was discharged in Los Angeles with the rank of sergeant.

"I felt that the Marines were the only ones I had ever cared about or who had ever cared for me," he once told an interviewer, the New York Times reported in 1972.

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Semper Fi, Art. Thanks for all the laughs.

Another one has gone westCanadian Press
Ian Keltie, shown in this 1943 photo, flew Spitfires in World War II. He died last week, aged 86. Email story



Toronto man flew 75 missions

Feb 05, 2007 04:30 AM
Michele Henry
Staff Reporter

The cockpit cover flew off. The wind lashed his exposed head and face. And Ian Keltie felt like he'd been "hit with a hammer."

Keltie, a pilot barely 22 years old and fighting for Canada in World War II, struggled to assess the damage to himself and his aircraft during that mission on Aug. 24, 1942.

He was escorting American B-17 bombers on a daylight raid of a target in France. He was under attack.

"I took violent evasive action and climbed hard and fast," Keltie wrote in Spitfire II, a book about Canadian fighter pilots published in 1999.

But as he mounted his defence and tried to retreat from the German enemy, he was careful not to turn his gaze too far to either side, into the wind.

"He didn't want to lose his sunglasses," Ross Keltie, Ian's son, said yesterday from his Toronto home.

"He had brand new sunglasses. They cost him two weeks' pay. He was always like that."

Ian George Secord Keltie died in Toronto on Jan. 29. He was 86.

Known to his family as "Grampie," Keltie is believed to have been one of the few surviving Canadians to have flown a Spitfire. With a Rolls-Royce engine, it was the top fighter plane of its day.

He flew under Billy Bishop, who was Canada's highest-scoring fighter pilot in World War I.

As a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force, 402 Winnipeg Squadron, Keltie flew 75 missions over enemy territory between 1940 and 1944.

He was the second pilot to land in Normandy on D-Day, Ross says, noting his dad told him the first plane plowed into a farmer. Keltie flew in support of the Dunkirk evacuations in 1940.

King George VI awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross at Buckingham Palace.

Throughout his life, Keltie loved to travel and spend time with family.

A modest man, he rarely talked about his life during the war, barely telling his children about his missions.

Ross Keltie knew little about how his father was wounded that "hot" day in 1942 on the flight back to Kenley air force base in southern England.

"He'd tell parts of the stories," Ross Keltie said. "We'd have to squeeze it out of him."

Keltie was halfway over the English Channel when his plane was hit. His leg was numb, he wrote in Spitfire II, so he wasn't in too much pain.

He opened fire on one of the two German Fw190 planes that he could see were closing in on him. Black smoke erupted into the air.

"He kept heading back to England," Ross Keltie, 53, said. "That was the safest thing to do."

Keltie flew low over English land, praying enemy planes would retreat for fear of being hit by ground troops.

Within minutes he landed on the base. Shrapnel had hit him in the leg. His boot was full of blood.

After three weeks in the hospital, Ross Keltie said, his father was back in the cockpit of his Spitfire, which had the spunky cartoon sailor Popeye painted on its nose.

The eldest of five children, Ian Keltie was born May 26, 1920, in Millet, Alta. The son of a farmer who served in a Scottish cavalry regiment in World War I, Keltie joined the air force in 1939.

He was 19, fearless and raring to go.

"He always wanted to fly," Ross Keltie said.

Keltie grew up on a farm before moving to Edmonton to attend high school with his siblings. When he finished his studies the war broke out.

He returned to Edmonton shortly thereafter and married June Martin, who died 14 years ago at the age of 69.

For a while he worked as a bush pilot. After that he sold life insurance, then spent 25 years as a distributor of floor coverings. He flew a plane out of Toronto's Island airport until he was in his 50s.

Keltie was proud of his role in the air force. He let his children play dress-up with his uniforms, even if he wasn't able to talk about his experiences.

Ross Keltie had plans to ask his dad for more stories.

"You keep putting it off and then it's too late," he said.

Ian Keltie leaves his three children – Heather Sloan, Margot Dobson and Ross – seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild, who was born Friday.