According to the UK’s Royal Air Force, the last British pilot to survive World War II’s Battle of Britain passed away at the age of 105.
In a statement, the RAF claimed that John “Paddy” Hemingway “passed away peacefully” on Monday, calling his passing “the end of an era”.
He was one of the pilots referred to as “The Few” because of his participation in the historic air combat in 1940 that protected Britain from significant Luftwaffe strikes by Nazi Germany.
The phrase was first used by Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain during the war.
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” he said of the men’s sacrifice.
Born in Dublin in 1919, Hemingway enlisted in the RAF in 1938, a year before war broke out in Europe.
In 1940, Hemingway downed a German Luftwaffe plane but his Hurricane fighter was hit by anti-aircraft fire and he had to make a forced landing, according to the air force.
He then became one of the frontline members of pilots responding to daily attacks by German aircraft, which became known as the Battle of Britain.
During intense dogfights in August 1940, Hemingway was forced to bail out of his Hurricanes twice, landing once in the sea and another time in marshland.
Hemingway later received the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) medal for bravery.
“He never considered himself a hero and often referred to himself as the ‘Lucky Irishman’, a man simply doing his job, like so many others of his generation,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
“Their sense of duty and service secured our freedom, and we shall never forget them.”
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