Spitfire Tribute to a 60-Year Love That Refused to Die

This story was in the Scotsman newspaper, online edition, today. It was sent to me by my friend Richard in Scotland, who lives near the site of the crash.

CLAIRE SMITH

A SPITFIRE aircraft that fought in the Battle of Britain will fly low over East Lothian this Saturday in honour of a Czech airman killed in the war and the woman who loved him.
Juliette Liska, now 85, will be standing by the graveside of her fiancé, Vaclav Jicha, in St Martin's RC Cemetery, Haddington, in memory of the airman who was killed in a wartime crash over the Lammermuir Hills.

Juliette Liska, 85, at the grave of her fiancé, who was killed in 1945 Picture: Ian Rutherford

Ms Liska survived a German labour camp and went on to marry another man, but she never forgot the love of her life, whom she met at a flying club in Prague before the war.

"He was a very serious man, but I understood him very well because we were both pilots," said Ms Liska, who was captured by the Germans in 1943 then became a translator for the American forces after the war ended.

Mr Jicha fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 to escape the Nazis and ended up flying missions for the Allies. After the occupation of France, he worked in Britain as a test pilot and was awarded both the DFC and the AFC.

In the closing months of the war, the Czech pilot was posted to RAF Kinross and it was from there that he took his last flight, on 9 April, 1945. Mr Jicha was one of three people on board a flight that crashed into the Lammermuir Hills in deep snow.

He survived the impact, but froze to death trying to make his way back through the snow and was found six days later by a shepherd on the hills.

Meanwhile, Ms Liska did not know if her fiancé was alive or dead. On returning to Czechoslovakia after the war, she finally learned the truth about what had happened.
Following the wishes of her family, Ms Liska married, but she never forgot her wartime sweetheart and has made several visits to his grave. This year, poor health following a fall almost prevented her from making the trip, but she was determined to come to visit the grave.
Inspired by her determination, Bill Nicholson of the Spitfire Club and Jack Tully Jackson, a local historian, arranged for the flypast at 2:30pm tomorrow.

The spitfire, which is in Scotland for the Battle of Britain fundraising ball at Leuchars, was at the Battle of Britain and its body is pockmarked with shrapnel holes.

Bill Nicholson said: "I contacted the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and told them the story of Vaclav Jicha and Juliette Liska and they agreed to arrange the flypast."

Standing in the East Lothian cemetery where her fiancé lies alongside other airmen, Ms Liska wondered if it might be the last time she will make the trip. "This is a lovely place, a peaceful place," she says, admiring the freshly planted flowers around her fiancé's grave.

"I think I will ask to have my ashes sprinkled here alongside Vaclav. But I don't think I am ready to join him yet."

She said she was looking forward to watching the planes flying above the cemetery on Saturday and will do as she always does when she visits the grave: "I will speak to him in Czech."

No-Politics Zone

I'm from Idaho, and Idaho has been in the news lately due to the indiscretions of our conservative Republican Senator, Lary Craig, who apparently acted inappropriately in a public restroom at the Minneapolis Airport.

The vast majority of blogs on the internet are political in nature. This one never, ever will be. Do I care that Larry Craig is a hypocrite? Not really. He's a politician, for Pete's sake. 'Honest politician' has, unfortunately, become an oxymoron.

This website is devoted to World War Two airmen, and to American veterans in general. I will stick up for Veterans' Rights on every issue. Our veterans deserve the best medical care, housing, and education available to any American.

Sadly, this is not the case in our country.

Our political system is very sick, and if it doesn't get fixed, we as a nation are in serious trouble.

As long as special interests control the political process, the rest of us are merely pawns.

Why is it that none of the children of our leaders is serving in Iraq or Afghanistan? Why is it that the White House is planning a wedding while the parents of Iraq vets are planning funerals?

Is it for the same reason that our leaders themselves never served in Vietnam?

My heart is with my four friends--Aaron, Mike, Sam and Joe who have served a combined 12(twelve) tours in Iraq. My four friends have an average age of well over thirty. They have 13 children altogether. They are good men, working men, who grew up without special privileges. All four will be going back to Iraq by the end of the year---again. Their wives get to raise their children alone while they wait--and pray--that their husbands return alive and un-maimed.

It is up to the poor man to die in the rich man's wars. If the rich man had to fight the war himself, it would be long over.

I salute the men who honor our country with their service, despite the incompetence of our leaders. If these men die, they die a hero's death---but their blood will be on the hands of the politicians who put them in harm's way.

I salute all veterans of all wars. The Vietnam vets never got their due. They served honorably in a war that the elite escaped. The Persian Gulf vets have also served with great courage and distinction. So, too, die our Korean War and World War Two vets.

I no longer believe in any political party. I will vote for the person I think can put the rights of the American people above party, prestige or money.

God bless our veterans. May we never forget them or their sacrifices. And may we someday have statesmen---rather than politicians.

Labor Day Hike in the Wyoming Tetons

Table Rock is on the western side of the Teton Range, on far right. This was shot about nine or ten on the way up, facing the sun. Grand Teton is in the center right.

Looking down about two thousand feet below the summit--the flat farmlands of the Teton Valley below. The towns of Alta, Wyoming and Driggs, Idaho are just behind the mountain at center, about ten miles away.

Table Rock at center, above a rock field and a small but dazzling meadow of yellow grasses. Grand Teton just visible to the left of Table Rock. The summit is about fifty yards long and ten yards across. The last mile feels like it is straight up.

Today I went for a hike up Table Rock in the Grand Tetons. This 11,100 foot peak is accessed from the western side of the Tetons. It has a vertical gain of over 4,000 feet and when you get up to 11,000 feet I imagine people from the East or West coast are sucking serious air. The hike was over about 13.5 miles round-trip.

A small glacial lake several thousand feet below the summit. I think is is Solitude Lake.

I left Ammon, Idaho at 5:30 in the morning, started climbing a little after seven in the morning, summited about eleven or so, sat on top long enough to rest up, and went back down. Beautiful day, maybe a hundred people on the trail that I saw altogether in seven or eight hours. The oldest looked about eighty and the youngest less than one. And for the first time in three hikes, I did not see a bear, and this was just fine by me.

Even gimpy-kneed old guys can still make it to the top if they take their time.


Looking east, you can see the Jackson Hole Valley below the Tetons. This is from the summit.

A last look through the trees about four miles below. You can still see Table Rock in the center.

Table Rock looks like a giant doorknob. It is a little lower than the Grand Teton but so close you can see climbers on it. Below the summit I saw glacial lakes and craggy rocks. A good way to spend Labor Day. It took me almost as long to figure out my photo program after I got back, despite the fact that I've used it before. I must be losing my grip in my old age.

This flower had bloomed and was sending out parachute-like seeds into the sky.

Honoring Women Who Served--Lena Mae O'Neal--WAVE

Lena Mae O'Neal in a close-up from a group photo. (Courtesy of Nancy Hart, O'Neal's niece)

A photograph of Peggy O'Neal stands in front of her US Navy WAVE uniform. The immaculate and complete uniform, with cap and leather purse, was donated to me by a colleague Nancy Hart. Peggy was Nancy's aunt.

Peggy's WAVE uniform, looking as new as the day she got it, stands in a place of honor in my small museum. Note her name "L.M. ONEAL" stenciled on the WAVE-issued purse.

The WAVES were the women's arm of the United States Navy during World War Two. Many women served in jobs that would otherwise have been done by men, thus freeing the men to fight in the war effort.

A colleague of mine at work, Nancy Hart, had an aunt named Lena Mae O'Neal. Ms. O'Neal went by Peggy. Peggy served in the WAVES in World War Two as a cook. She was stationed in San Diego, California and in New York. A few years ago, her niece Nancy gave me Peggy's entire WAVE uniform, complete with purse and cap. This set is a priceless artifact and one of the crown jewels of my collection.

Peggy O'Neal was born in 1917 in Springfield, Missouri. In 1939, she went to California. Her brothers and sisters were all involved once the United States entered the war. Her oldest brother, James O'Neal, taught pilots to fly in Oklahoma. Her older sister Betty was a secretary on several different bases. Her brother Frank O'Neal, was injured in the Phillipines. While being transported on a hospital ship, the ship was bombed by the Japanese and Frank was killed. Her brother William O'Neal was in the Marines, and brother Emmitt was in the Coast Guard. Another sister, Dorothy, worked as a 'Rosie the Riveter' for McDonnell Douglas, building aircraft. Of the eight children in the O'Neal family, seven were involved in the war effort in some way.

Peggy passed away a few years ago. Today we honor her service and that of her siblings.

A wartime recruiting poster shows a young WAVE prepared to serve her country.

The United States Navy's history website has the following information on the WAVES:

"After a twenty-three-year absence, women returned to general Navy service in early August 1942, when Mildred McAfee was sworn in as a Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander, the first female commissioned officer in U.S. Navy history, and the first Director of the WAVES, or "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service". In the decades since the last of the Yeomen (F) left active duty, only a relatively small corps of Navy Nurses represented their gender in the Naval service, and they had never had formal officer status. Now, the Navy was preparing to accept not just a large number of enlisted women, as it had done during World War I, but female Commissioned Officers to supervise them. It was a development of lasting significance, notwithstanding the WAVES' name, which indicated that they would only be around during the wartime "Emergency".

Recruiting had to be undertaken (or at least managed, as the number of interested women was vast), training establishments set up, an administrative structure put in place and uniforms designed. The latter effort produced a classic design that still has many elements in use nearly six decades later. Difficulties were overcome with energy and indispensable good humor, and within a year 27,000 women wore the WAVES uniform.

These women served in a far wider range of occupations than had the Yeomen (F). While traditionally female secretarial and clerical jobs took an expected large portion, thousands of WAVES performed previously atypical duties in the aviation community, Judge Advocate General Corps, medical professions, communications, intelligence, science and technology. The wartime Navy's demand for them was intense as it struggled to defeat Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific.

At the end of the conflict, there were well over 8,000 female officers and some ten times that many enlisted WAVES, about 2 ½ percent of the Navy's total strength. In some places WAVES constituted a majority of the uniformed Naval personnel. And many remained in uniform to help get the Navy into, and through, the post-war era.

Airplanes Over Boston

Maurice Rockett sent this great shot of my favorite city, Boston, Massachusetts, as seen from the air. The USS Constitution(Old Ironsides) is sailing below in the harbor. When in Boston, I took a tour of that historic old ship. I generally dislike large cities, but my stay in Boston was outstanding. The city has an excellent public transportation system, is packed with history, has many lovely parks, and more museums than a person could visit in a year.

And Speaking of Great Women.....

In a photo taken about 1893, my great grandmother, Aloisia Knaus Schupfer, holds her son Otto's hand. My grandpa, Herman C. Schupfer, sits on my great-grandfather Mathias Schupfer's lap. Matthias would desert the family, leaving Aloisia alone to raise her family in the New World.

I spent all day today writing up the story of my great-grandmother. With the help of my mother, Beverly, and the memoirs of my late grandpa, Herman C. Schupfer, I put together a tribute to Aloisia Knaus Schupfer, who started life as a semmerin, living high in the Austrian Alps each summer with only the cows for company, and who ended her life as a pioneer farm wife, abandoned by an alcoholic husband, raising three brilliant young kids and making friends with the Nez Perce Indians in Idaho.

Aloisia began her life as a semmerin, a person who goes up into the mountains with the cattle and takes care of them during the summer. She lived each summer at the Riesachsee, in the rugged Alps of Austrian Steiermark, and carried the family's beehive on her back up and down each year. This is a similar summer hut on the Riesachsee.

In the 1880s, Aloisia, an old maid in her thirties, agreed to marry fellow Austrian Mathias Schupfer and accompany him back to his homestead in northern Idaho. Above is their homestead in 1907. The family homestead is still there, but derelict and empty, above Juliaetta, Idaho.
On the homestead, Aloisia feeds chickens around 1900.

Aloisia traded with the Nez Perce Indians regularly. She liked them, enjoyed their visits, and said they were honest and good. Here is a Nez Perce family who lived just down the valley at Spalding, Idaho.

Aloisia Schupfer passed away in 1937 and is buried in Juliaetta, Idaho. But her memory lives on. An old maid, she married my great-grandfather who had already homesteaded 160 acres in northern Idaho in the 1870s, and followed him to America. What courage that must have taken! In 1910, my great-grandfather left to see the World's Fair in Portland and never came back, ending up in San Francisco, where his skill as a carpenter assured him of work rebuilding a city devastated by the recent earthquake. He left behind a farm, three children, and his wife, who instead of giving up, redoubled her efforts and raised three children alone. In addition to the other early settlers in the area, she befriended and traded with many of the Nez Perce Indians, and her tolerance of those different from herself was handed down to future generations.

Aloisa Schupfer with my mom, Beverly Schupfer, in Kendrick Idaho, around 1932. My mom loved visiting her Grandmother, a kind woman who spoke limited English with a thick German accent and always told her when she left to "be a goot geerl".

Aloisia never spoke more than a smattering of English, but she was a rock, and upon her a family was built. She instilled her strong Christian faith in her children, and many years later, her son, my grandpa, instilled it in me. What greater gift is there than salvation?

In a week when I am saluting strong women, I cannot leave out my own great-grandma, one of the greatest women, next to my own mom, in my life.

Saluting Rosie the Riveter

My friend Maurice says I'm long overdue for a story about the role of women in the war effort. He is right. This week I am going to devote all my blog articles to the role of women in World War Two.

Maurice sent my an article that appeared in yesterday's online edition of Army Times. I quote it here:

Real-life Rosies set to fly on WWII planes

The Associated PressPosted : Friday Aug 31, 2007 11:46:58 EDT

NEW YORK — Anne King was 19 and earning $12 a week in a dime store when she was recruited in 1942 to learn how to make airplane parts. She worked at Republic Aviation on Long Island as a mechanic and riveter on P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and other aircraft.
King and five other women who performed wartime factory work were set to gather Friday at what is now Republic Airport in Farmingdale and take rides in a B-17 Flying Fortress and a B-24 Liberator "as a tribute to their war efforts," said Hope Kaplan, a spokeswoman for the American Airpower Museum on the grounds of the airport.

Exhibitions by vintage aircraft are holiday fixtures at the museum, but this is the first time any of the women, the "Rosie the Riveters" who helped build World War II aircraft, have had a chance to fly in them, Kaplan said.

King, who turns 85 Saturday, said she was "not the least bit nervous" about her first flight in a vintage bomber.

"I'd like to ride in the B-24," said Josephine Rachiele, 82, who was also scheduled to take a tribute flight. "My friend Bernadette's father was a waist gunner on a B-24 and I would like to tell her what it's like."

Rachiele recalled that when she first went to work as a riveter at Republic in 1943, "I didn't know a rivet from a nail, and it was so noisy that I was really frightened. The rivet guns shooting rivets and the drill press stomping on metal — it was pandemonium."

At war's end, she said, the women were given the choice of staying or leaving so that returning service members could have the jobs. Rachiele quit but returned in later years to Republic, where she was known both as "Josie the Riveter" and "Rosie the Riveter."

Georgette Feller, 86, said she was "already one step ahead" when she joined Republic Aviation as a riveter.

"My father was an excellent mechanic, and I already knew how to use a rivet gun, and I could tell aluminum from steel," she said.

"It was a great job, but I had trouble with the man who was my first partner — he said he wasn't happy working with a dizzy broad."

Feller knows Friday's flight is a great opportunity.

"I'm at the end of my days and I want every good experience I can have," she said. "That sounds like a good one for me."

While the actual number of women employed in defense plants is uncertain, historians say the war brought about 6 million women into the work force for the first time. They almost always made less money than men working at the same tasks.

In 1943, a promotional film using an actual riveter named Rose at Michigan's Willow Run bomber plant as its model popularized the "Rosie the Riveter" image. A song furthered the cause, as did a Saturday Evening Post cover by illustrator Norman Rockwell, depicting Rosie with her feet resting on a copy of Adolf Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf."

During World War II the United States government sought increased domestic production to supply the war effort while at the same time sending a percentage of the male work force into military service. To help meet the need for a larger labor force, the government created Rosie the Riveter, shown here. The publicity campaign focusing on the fictional poster girl, which ran from 1942 to 1945, encouraged women to support the war by working outside the home. More than 6 million women joined the U.S. domestic work force during World War II.