http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20040676
I thought of adding this to the Spitfire discovery thread but thought this man deserved his own thread. Flt Lt William Walker flew Spits with the famed 616 squadron. He is the last British pilot who flew in the Battle of Britain and embodied Churchill's remarks, "Never have so many owed so much to so few."
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Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
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He lived to ripe old age .Fortunately there are some very good documentaries of the pilots who survived until old age .Some who still remembered how to fly those magnificent machines.I never miss a WW2 documentary .That age goes now into the history books since there are no more living witnesses.
Ohiophinphan likes this. -
???? Where did you hear that there are no more Battle Of Britain pilots? That's wrong. William Walker was the 'oldest' to pass away not the last. There are still a few of the 'Few' remaining. Geoffrey Wellum to name but one
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Wellum -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
Just quoting the BBC. I thought they would know?
Its taken you two years to notice and correct this? -
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Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
And you misread me, imputing sarcasm into my answer. I assure you, my response was one of surprise that you would bump a two year old thread. You are correct, I misread eldest as last. I was clearly wrong. Thank you. However, I didn't impute motive to you and ask you not to impute motive to me, that's all.
The difficulty in reading only written material is that you bring your own sense of "voice" to it. That may or may not be correct. In this case, I would suggest yours was not. If you were offended, I am sorry. No offense, just surprise, was intended.
At 61, I was born in late 1952 and thus missed the world wars. My Dad served on a destroyer in WW 2 though he saw no action. One relative was at Kasserine and Monte Cassino and another in the Philippines. I have spoken with hundreds of vets of all the eras and have conducted some oral history interviews for colleges and historical societies to keep their story alive. Some particular favorites were a WW1 submariner and later Yangtze River Patrol CPO, a member of Merrill's Marauders, a Dauntless pilot from Midway, and Hindenburg's driver in both wars. My personal library of WW 2 history is over 400 books, mostly focusing on the Navy in the Pacific though generally covering the entire war.
Thanks for your interest. I would hope in the future you would read material, especially mine, without deciding motives.MrClean likes this. -
MrClean Inglourious Basterd Club Member
What the Marauders did was IMO the most impressive feat by US ground soldiers of anything in WW2. I met a rancher in Wyoming once, who was a mule skinner with the Marauders. I was young then though, and while I knew enough about their story to be somewhat in awe, I did not take the time, to really engage him in a long conversation. -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
The SBD pilot was Earl Gallaher, CO of Scouting 6, off Enterprise. He was the uncle of one of the fellows who was an advisor to the youth program. I did his funeral in DC. The Merrill's Marauders fellow was the last surviving member of the medical detachment. He had been a medic/hospital orderly with them. When they were finally evacuated, he told me he was one of a hand full who were fit for further duty. They were a very sick group.
MrClean likes this.