Emil Boček

Emil Boček (25 February 1923 – 25 March 2023) was a Czech World War II veteran and the last surviving Czechoslovak RAF pilot.

Early life
Emil Boček was born on February 25, 1923, in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He graduated from the municipal school in Brno-Tuřany. In September 1938, he began training to become a machine locksmith.

In late 1939, following the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Boček managed to illegally leave the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and join the Czechoslovak foreign army in France.

World War II
Boček reached Beirut and took part in the Battle of France in the summer of 1940. After the French surrendered, he was evacuated to Great Britain, where, in September 1940, he graduated from the Aircraft Mechanics Course and was accepted as one of the youngest members of the RAF.

He served first as an aircraft mechanic with the 312th Fighter Squadron. In 1943, he was on pilot training in De Winton and Medicine Hat, both in Alberta, Canada, and from October 1944, he served as a fighter pilot in squadron "B" of the No. 310 Squadron RAF fighter squadron. He had 26 operational flights and flew for a total of 73 hours and 50 minutes. His last combat action was on May 12, 1945, from Manston airfield.

On August 13, 1945, Boček landed with other pilots of the Czechoslovak fighter squadrons in Prague-Ruzyně. He was subsequently assigned to Air Regiment 2 in Prague-Kbely, and on December 1, 1945, he was promoted to sergeant of the Air Force in reserve.

As a member of the non-communist resistance, he became an inconvenience to the communists, and after the war, he was discharged from the army at his own request on March 2, 1946.

Life after the war
Before February 1948, Boček owned a car repair shop in Brno, which he had to "voluntarily" nationalise and hand over to Mototechna, where he then worked. It is due to this that he escaped persecution by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. At that time, he was also a very promising motorcycle racer.

In 1951, he married Eva Svobodová, with whom he had a son named Jiří and a daughter named Zuzana.

In 1958, he began working as a turner at the Institute of Instrumentation of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, and from 1983 to 1988, he worked at the Drukov company. He retired in 1988.

Life post-retirement
In April 1990, he was promoted to the rank of captain and, in October of the same year, was further promoted to the rank of major. In March 1993, he was subsequently promoted to the rank of retired colonel.

On March 23, 1996, he personally met for a brief conversation with the British Queen Elizabeth II during her four-hour visit to Brno accompanied by the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel.

On October 28, 2010, President Václav Klaus awarded him the Order of the White Lion, III Class, due to his "extraordinary merit for the defence and security of the state and outstanding combat activity".

A documentary film about his life, called Nezlomný (English: Unbreakable), was made in 2012.

President Miloš Zeman appointed Boček to Brigadier General on May 8, 2014, to Major General on May 8, 2017, and on May 8, 2019, to Army General.

In December 2016, one of the trams of the Brno City Transport Company was named after him, a suggestion of the Brno-Bystrc district.

On January 31, 2017, Boček received the 2016 City of Brno Award for Merit for Freedom and Democracy. He has also been an honorary citizen of Brno since December 2017.

On October 28, 2019, Boček was awarded the title of Order of the White Lion, I Class, by the President of the Republic Miloš Zeman.

On September 19, 2019, Kurt Taussig died, making Emil Boček the last surviving Czechoslovak pilot in the RAF during World War II.

Boček lived in Brno all his life, except during World War II. He was active in the Czechoslovak Legionary Community and the Association of Former Members of the RAF and actively participated in events in Brno.

He participated in several meetings, including one with Czech Technical University students and staff together with RAF airmen, organised after November 1989 by the Masaryk Academy of Labour, the Mechanical Engineering Society at CTU in Prague, and the European Movement in the Czech Republic in the large lecture room 256 in Prague-Dejvice.

Emil Boček died on March 25, 2023, at the age of 100 in Brno.

Awards and decorations

 * CZE Rad Bileho Lva 1 tridy BAR.svg Order of the White Lion, I Class – Grand cross (2019)
 * CZE Rad Bileho Lva 3 tridy BAR.svg Order of the White Lion, III Class – Commander (2010)
 * Czechoslovak War Cross 1939-1945 (2x) Bar.png Czechoslovak War Cross 1939–1945, double receiver
 * TCH CS Medaile Za chrabrost pred nepritelem BAR.svg Medal "For Bravery Before the Enemy"
 * TCH CS Voj Med Za Zasluhy ribbon.svg Czechoslovak Medal of Merit, Second class
 * TCH CS voj pametni medaile BAR.svg Commemorative medals of the Czechoslovak army abroad
 * CZE Cross of Merit Min-of-Def 3rd BAR.svg Cross of Merit of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic, Third class
 * CZE Medal of Karel Kramář BAR.svg Medal of Karel Kramář (2016)
 * Ribbon - 1939-45 Star.png 1939–1945 Star
 * Ribbon - Air Crew Europe Star.png Air Crew Europe Star
 * Ribbon - France and Germany Star.png France and Germany Star
 * Defence Medal BAR.svg British Defence Medal
 * Ribbon - War Medal.png War Medal 1939–1945
 * CZE Honorable Commemorative Badge 60th Anniv WW2 End v1 BAR.svg Ribbon for the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II award
 * Čestná pamětní medaile k 90. výročí vzniku Československé republiky - Ribbon.jpg Ribbon of the 90th anniversary of the Czechoslovak republic
 * TCH Commemorative Medal 20th Anniv Liberation CSSR BAR.svg Commemorative Medal for the 20th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
 * [[File:Pamětní medaile za účast v boji proti fašismu a za osvobození vlasti - ribbon.jpg|60px]] Commemorative medal for participation in the fight against fascism and for the liberation of the Czechoslovak homeland
 * Čsol 3945.jpg Commemorative medal of the CSOL "1914–1918 / 1939–1945"
 * Medaile ČsOL III. třídy.jpg Commemorative Medal of CSOL, Third Class
 * Čsol 100 let.jpg Commemorative medal 100 years of CSOL (2021)
 * Cyriakowie.svg The Grand Cross of the Canons Regular of the Penitence of the Blessed Martyrs