And then there were none.
The last of 'the few' has now flown to his maker.
In 1940, John 'Paddy' Hemingway was one of that extraordinary group of brothers who were everything between Great -Britain and enemy invasion during what Winston Churchill called our 'best hour'.
Now, both sorrow and gratitude, the Daily Mail announces that the last of the 'Fighter Boys', the youthful victors of the Battle of Great -Britain, went today at 5.45 pm at the age of 105 in history.
It is not exaggerated to say that a very great chapter in the history of this country – and the wider world – has now come to an end.
Last night the son of Mr Hemingway, Brian, told the post that his father had been 'happy' and 'in Vechtform' until the end in the Dublin Care Home, which had been home in recent years.
“He never felt that there was anything special about him,” said Brian. “He thought the special friends were the friends who never returned. And now he is back at his squadron. It is very sad, but he is a life to be celebrated and mourning. '
Group captain John Hemingway DFC, as he was by the time he withdrew from the Royal Air Force in 1974, served the entire Second World War, from the first day to the last, that came from an amazing series of near-death experiences almost unscathed.
The last of 'the few', John 'Paddy' Hemingway, died at the age of 105 –
His death is an punctuation brand of our national history, writes Robert Hardman
The war hero believed that his efforts during the Battle of Britain in 1940 were just part of the job
In his last newspaper interview, with the post, Mr Hemingway told me that he attributed his great age to 'a happy Irishman'. That he left this world on St Patrick's Day seems entirely in accordance with the extraordinary story of his life.
He was shot four times, survived a plane crash and was even saved by a tree when his parachute did not open. There is no doubt that he enjoyed more than his part of happiness.
Bought on the very first night of the Second World War and sent to France a week later in September 1939, he saw his squadron decimated even before the start of the Battle of Britain ten months later. Because of those bloody months of 1940, he was one of that small number of exhausted and impossible young men who defended Great Britain against wave after golf of enemy attacks. Even at the end of the battle he was only 21.
After most of his contemporaries had either made the ultimate sacrifice, had suffered terrible burns or rightly transferred to other tasks, 'Paddy' Hemingway was still volunteer to be in the middle of the action. His last brush with death came exactly at the end of the war in April 1945, when he was shot over Italy, avoided the capture and returned by enemy lines, dressed as a farmer, with the help of a ten -year -old Italian girl.
During the war he flew both hurricanes and spitfires and refused to choose a party in that age -old dispute about which the better plane was. He called the first a 'beautiful' plane, 'a soft old lady, comfortable and old -fashioned' and a 'very stable platform for fighting'. He would always be one of the first to point out that this was the workhorse of the Battle of Great -Britain and destroyed more enemy aircraft than all others. The stronger, faster Spitfire was' great – except that you had to be a very careful. If you were not careful with a Spitfire, you would get into all kinds of problems'.
Regarding airfighting, the Hemingway advice to Fighter Pilots was clear: “Keep busy between the enemy bombers, shoots as many goals as possible and are not waiting to confirm results that go beyond the most immediate obvious.”
Huldesten will now flow in from all over the world. There was a similar sense of collective loss after the death of Harry Patch, the last fighting 'Tommy' of the First World War, in 2009.
Such moments are the punctuation marks of our national history, a time to pause, reflect and pay tribute.
He withdrew from the RAF in 1974 as a group captain, after he also received the leading flying cross
A life -sized statue of Mr Hemingway, ready for action and looking at heaven, will be shown next month in Het Kent Battle of Britain Museum
John Hemingway's family will remember a beloved father of three, a grandfather and a great -grandfather who was always vague by any hassle. He was not religious at a distance, as far as he had no wish for a funeral ceremony. His reaction to those, like me, who may ask about his life was a real surprise. “Is someone interested remotely?” He would answer. It knows Battle of Britain Museum in Hawkinginge for sure. Their new, life -sized statue of Mr Hemingway (ready for action and looking at heaven) will be shown when the museum is reopening next month.
However, a memorial service will be held in due course. As with the death of Harry Patch, that should be a moment to not only thank and honor Mr Hemingway, but all his comrades, in this case all 2,927 kites – usually British, but including almost 700 of the Commonwealth and Allied Nations – who have awarded the Battle of Britain Clasp.
Come May, we will mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in Europe – Ve day. Without those who fought against the Battle of Britain five years earlier, there would not have been a day in the first place.
One by one they have left us and so it is Mr Hemingway who goes down in the Annals as the very last of those who elevated Churchill in one of the most famous lines of the 20th century: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many.”
Not that the Lord Hemingway of course completely remembered it. “Just do the work,” he would say – although he was touched by the feeling of Churchill.
While he told me, “If all your friends who love you are the most of you, and someone says that, it means something.”
His dedication to 'De Baan' never staggered. In 2019, a team of aviation historians recovered the wreck of a hurricane from a piece of coastal modder in Essex. It was the plane from which Mr Hemingway was saved in August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, after his engine was hit and caught fire. Not only were the browning machine guns still operational (and also had to be taken out of use), but the control column was still in one piece. The gun button, discovered the recovery team, was still set to 'firing'.
