Obituaries

[ccheese]

Charles

[Wayne Little]

[syscom3]

Toronto lawyer survived D-Day, defended Lord Haw-Haw in Old Bailey
Wounded during the Battle of Normandy, he was reassigned to defend a
Nazi broadcaster accused of treason. After returning to Canada, he
practised civil law for 60 years
GAY ABBATE

July 15, 2008

TORONTO -- It was April 3, 1943, and Stanley Biggs was on the Queen
Mary, the ship transporting him and other Canadian soldiers across
the Atlantic to fight the Nazis. As he passed the time playing
bridge, a familiar voice came across the shortwave radio, announcing
the imminent demise of the ship and everyone aboard.

"There are 5,000 Canadians aboard the Queen Mary hoping to reach
Southampton by sundown. There is no way this will happen. The
Messerschmitts are on the way."

The voice belonged to William Joyce, nicknamed "Lord Haw-Haw" by the
British. The American-born Joyce had moved to England but fled to
Germany just before the war. There, he became part of the Nazi
propaganda machine, broadcasting weekly to England and Allied
soldiers from 1939 to 1945. Joyce warned that German fighter aircraft
would destroy the ship, but it reached port safely.

That was Mr. Biggs's first introduction to Lord Haw-Haw. Seventeen
months later, with Germany defeated, the two men sat just a few feet
apart in an Old Bailey courtroom in London. Mr. Joyce was in the
prisoner's box on trial for treason; Mr. Biggs, a trained lawyer
recovering from war wounds, was attached to his court-appointed legal
defence team.

For long weeks in September and October of 1945, he did nothing but
research treason laws dating back to the 14th century. In the
process, he became an expert on the subject, writing several articles
and giving speeches on the subject after his return to Canada. Of his
involvement in the trial, he wrote in his memoirs: "It was a most
interesting and worthwhile experience for a young lawyer to do
research and to hear the presentation of argument for the Crown by
the Attorney-General. " The memoir, As Luck Would Have It In War and
Peace, was released by Trafford Publishing (Victoria) earlier this
year.

It was the duty of the defence team, Mr. Briggs wrote, "to research
all of the relevant evidence we could find and to see that, if Joyce
was guilty, he was not convicted except in full evidence with the
law." During the trial, Joyce never spoke but kept looking around the
courtroom as if expecting family or friends to show up, Mr. Biggs
wrote. No one ever came. A jury convicted him of treason and he was
hanged in 1946.

Stanley Champion Biggs was not, in his own words, "a religious
scholar, a cosmic scientist, a World War II history professional, "
areas of endeavour he considered beyond his abilities. The list of
what he actually was is much longer: a combat infantry officer, a
devoted lawyer for more than six decades, a poet, a school trustee,
an environmentalist long before environmentalism was fashionable. He
also devoted his life to the principle of doing good for its own sake.

He was born to the law, one of four children to solicitor Richard
Atkinson Biggs and Gertrude Champion, the belle of Brantford, Ont.
His grandfather, Stanley Clarke Biggs, founded the firm of Biggs &
Biggs.

Young Stan grew up on Roxborough Street in Toronto's Rosedale
neighbourhood. He graduated from the University of Toronto Schools
and then studied law at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1936
and then enrolling in the three-year law program at Osgoode Hall Law
School. In 1939, he joined the family law firm and was called to the
bar that June.

To celebrate, he and classmate J. F. Barrett went to the world's fair
in New York. A group of young ladies graduating from Bishop Strachan
School in Toronto plotted to join them there. Among them was Mr.
Barrett's younger sister, Barbara, who clicked with Mr. Biggs. The
granddaughter of Sir Joseph Flavelle, a financier and meat packer who
was well known for his philanthropy in Toronto, they became engaged
by September and married the following June.

After the war broke out, Mr. Biggs volunteered with the Queen's Own
Rifles, leaving behind his wife, who was pregnant with their second
son. After months of training in England, he was among the thousands
of Canadian soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day -
June 6, 1944.

The regiment landed near Bernières-sur- Mer at about 8 a.m., only to
enter a maelstrom. A storm had just passed through the area and rough
seas meant that all-important support tanks had been delayed. Unable
to wait, the infantry was forced to go ashore unprotected, with the
result that the QOR suffered the worst casualties of any Canadian
unit crossing the beaches that day: 60 men killed and another 78
wounded.

Mr. Biggs, however, emerged without a scratch. He made it through 86
days of continuous front-line combat during the Battle of Normandy,
and the long struggle to deny Germany's bitter attempt to halt the
Allied breakthrough, until finally he was shot in the leg.

The machine-gun bullet that took him out of the fighting landed him
in a courtroom. During and after his convalescence in England, the
military decided to make use of his legal skills. Attached to the
office of the Canadian Judge Advocates General, he prosecuted or
defended soldiers accused of such crimes as assault or rape.

He returned home in December, 1945, with the rank of captain and
resumed the life of a civilian lawyer. At first, he helped his father
with his client list but also did pro bono work, defending accused
who could not afford a lawyer. There was no legal aid system in
Ontario until the 1960s.

Mr. Biggs continued to practise law until 2004. "He loved the law,"
daughter Dinny Biggs said. "He was passionate about the rule of law,
about studying its background, the evolution of law and
jurisprudence. "

One of the highlights of his career was his involvement in the
creation of the broadcaster CTV. He handled the negotiations that
brought together the original parties who acquired the licence for a
second national television station.

His client, Joel Aldred, had originally sought the licence on his
own. But with the Canadian Board of Broadcast Governors reluctant to
grant one to a single entity, Mr. Biggs helped him form a partnership
with Ted Rogers.

The new partners entered into an agreement with another group, headed
by newspaper owner John Bassett. The channel went on the air in 1961,
but disagreements eventually arose between the two groups. Mr. Biggs
came up with a solution that allowed Mr. Aldred to sell his shares
while leaving Mr. Rogers as a partner.

Mr. Biggs continued his pro bono work throughout his career,
providing free legal advice to numerous non-profit groups.

That list included the Queen's Own Rifle of Canada Trust, the
Canadian Opera Foundation and the Toronto School of Art, which his
artist-wife used some of her inheritance to help establish in 1968.In
1955, Mr. Biggs was named Queen's Counsel. In 1995, he received the
Law Society Medal, which the Law Society of Upper Canada awards in
recognition of distinguished service in the law profession.

Not content to write just briefs, Mr. Biggs also loved to dabble in
poetry. During the war, he wrote The Queen's Own Rifles on D-Day, a
poem that now hangs in the Canadian War Museum. He wrote the piece
one day in 1944 when several dozen members of his regiment were
killed and dozens more were injured during fighting.

Mr. Biggs was also a landowner. During his lifetime, he planted more
than 150,000 trees, beginning in the late 1940s, when he bought his
first piece of farmland. He eventually sold that and bought a 40-
hectare farm in Mono Township in Dufferin County, Ontario. The land
was hilly and not suitable for crops, so he rented it out for cattle.
For relaxation, he started planting seedlings, eventually turning the
property into a managed tree farm. In 1991, he was recognized by the
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources with an award for woodland
improvement.

Humour was another important aspect of Mr. Biggs's life. His was not
slapstick humour but rather a keen wit, said his long-time secretary,
Marjorie Fogg. "He always had cute little answers to things," she
said.

Mr. Biggs wrote of the importance of humour in his life in his
memoirs: "Without the humorous twists in my exposure to life ... I
think I would have cracked up long ago. I have always felt that the
therapeutic value of good humour should be gladly welcomed."

Toward the end of his life, Mr. Biggs prepared a final message for
his family and friends summing up the philosophy by which he lived
his own life: "Live fully, share extremes, stay well, keep chuckling,
have the thrill of dedication to good causes, be good on Earth for
its own sake."

STANLEY BIGGS

Stanley Champion Biggs was born in Toronto on Dec. 6, 1913. He died
June 17, 2008, at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto after a brief
illness. He was 94. He is survived by children Christopher, Barrett,
John and Dinny, and seven grandchildren. His wife, Barbara,
predeceased him in 2005.

[RabidAlien]

[Wayne Little]

[ToughOmbre]

TO

[evangilder]

[Njaco]

[Bigxiko]

[v2]

Squadron Leader Frank Day died

Squadron Leader Frank "Fearless" Day, who has died aged 91, came close to freedom during the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III; he was near the end of the tunnel when the exit was discovered, by which time 76 airmen had broken free, but he was forced to retreat and was soon in solitary confinement.

In the spring of 1943 the escape committee decided to construct three tunnels and make a mass breakout. Day volunteered to assist but his health did not allow him to go underground as a digger. He became one of a large army of prisoners responsible for dispersing the excavated sand. They did this by filling bags, which they suspended inside their trouser legs, an encumbrance that made them walk in an ungainly fashion, attracting the codename "penguins". By pulling a drawstring inside their pockets to open the bags they were able to scatter the sand around the compound.

The first 40 men to go down the 330-foot tunnel "Harry" had the most realistic chance of success. They knew the language and had been well-equipped. Day was amongst the second batch of escapers known as the "hard arsers". They too had escape maps but a motley collection of clothing. In Day's case this included an Army greatcoat. The "hard arsers" planned to jump freight trains but Day had decided on an equally improbable method, and was going to head for the nearest airfield and attempt to steal an aircraft.

On the night of March 24 1944, the escapers broke the surface outside the prison fence much later than they had hoped and delays had built up. Day had reached one of the tunnel's holding areas, "Piccadilly Circus", with a few men ahead of him, when the tunnel exit was discovered. By the time he had managed to reverse to the entrance of the tunnel under the stove of Hut 104, the German sentries had arrived and Day was arrested as he emerged. With 10 others he was promptly marched off to solitary confinement, the "cooler", to a regime of two slices of bread in the morning and as much water as they wanted. A few days later, he learned that 50 of the escapers had been shot on the orders of Hitler.

The son of a London wine merchant, Frank Barton Day was born on May 5 1917 at Chiswick and attended Uppingham School. In the late 1930s he was learning Arabic in readiness for a career with Shell when a legacy allowed him to learn to fly. He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in December 1937 when he completed his pilot training and soon became a flying instructor.

During one flight in his Tiger Moth he spotted a courting couple in a haystack and decided to buzz them. He misjudged his height, hit the haystack and damaged the aircraft. He was summoned to his CO's office and officially reprimanded for "a careless act in the air". However, this misdemeanour produced a great benefit since it allowed him to meet an attractive WAAF cipher officer, Antoinette Kaye, who was working in the next office, and a few months later they were married.

Day converted to the Spitfire and joined No 122 Squadron, initially based in Scotland, before moving south to fly sweeps over France. In April 1942 he left for the Middle East and joined a photographic reconnaissance unit flying high-level Spitfires. On September 23 1942 he took off from an airfield near Alexandria on a solo reconnaissance over the Aegean Sea. Off the coast of Crete, Messerschmitt Bf 109s attacked him. His knee and right hand were badly injured, including the loss of his thumb. Using his left hand only, he had great difficulty opening the hood of his stricken Spitfire. Eventually he managed to bale out and he landed in the sea off the coast of Crete, where he spent the next 24 hours before being rescued by Italian forces who looked after him well. Taken to hospital on the island, he had to endure a bombing raid before travelling to Germany where, initially, he received rough treatment, which further aggravated the wound to his knee.

During his stay in Stalag Luft III, Rupert Davies (who later gained fame for his portrayal of Maigret) and Peter Butterworth staged plays and revues and Day became a proficient make-up artist. He also became adept at converting bread and potato into alcohol using a trombone tube "for special occasions, like Easter and Christmas". In January 1945, with minimal notice to the PoWs, the Germans evacuated the camp as the Soviet Army advanced.

The next few weeks, in the depth of one of the worst winters on record, the prisoners on the infamous "Long March" suffered great privations and many died. Eventually, in May 1945, the RAF flew Day and his fellow prisoners back to England.

Day's injuries prevented him from returning to flying duties and he left the RAF as a squadron leader. Initially he worked for the pharmacists Savory and Moores, becoming the company's managing director in 1955.

Five years later he bought an electrical firm supplying the military, before buying out a small cheese-making enterprise run by two grocers, Harvey and Brockless, which he and his sons built up into a major cheese wholesaler.

Day had many interests. He took part in the Cowes to Torbay powerboat race for a number of years and was particularly fond of his green parrot, his trawler and a 1934 Rolls Royce. He bought the dilapidated trawler and sailed it from Banff to Littlehampton in Sussex, where he overhauled it and used it for fishing and family trips. In his later years he gave much devoted voluntary service to a local hospice.

At his 90th birthday celebrations, during which a Spitfire gave a display for him, he commented "I might be the oldest surviving caterpillar", referring to the Caterpillar Club, founded for those whose lives had been saved by parachute. He added: "I might also be one of the last penguins too."

He could have gone on to point out that he was also probably the oldest goldfish – aircrew who survived after landing in the sea.

He received the Air Efficiency Award for his RAF service.

Frank Day died on June 29. His wife died in 1996 and their two sons survive him.



source: Telegraph.co.uk, News, Sport, Business

[RabidAlien]

Dang. His story would make for one INCREDIBLE biography!!!!

[Wayne Little]

[syscom3]

Lewis Alexander Hopkins of San Antonio died of a heart attack on June 24, 2008 at the age of 89. Lew was born on June 10, 1919 in Luthersville, Georgia to Ernest Eugene Hopkins, Sr. and Fannie Bean Hopkins. He graduated from Luthersville High School in 1934 and from Berry College in Rome, Ga. in 1939. While in college he met Ruby Stevens and they married on September 26, 1941 in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Lew joined the Navy on July 1, 1940 as an apprentice seaman and retired June 30, 1974 as a Rear Admiral, Upper Half. During his Naval Career he served as a dive bomber pilot in World War II in the Pacific participating in the pivotal Battle of Midway and later in the Southwestern Pacific in the Battle of Santa Cruz in which his carrier, The U.S.S. Hornet was sunk. After World War II he earned a Master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering and was a pioneer in the development of jet engines and initiated the development of the jet engine which subsequently became the propulsion system for the SR-71 advanced reconnaissance plane. In the early 1970s he commanded the Naval Missile Center in Ventura, California, where various naval missiles, including the sidewinder, sparrow, and phoenix missiles were tested. His last duty station before retirement was the Assistant Chief of the Naval Air Command for Research and Development. He retired on July, 1974 and moved to Del Mar California where he became active in community affairs serving on the City Council and as Mayor. In June of 1994 he moved to The Towers in San Antonio, where he served as President of The Towers Co-Operative Association for over 7 years. Following the death of his wife Ruby in 2001, Lew married Mary Lokken. Lew's brother Eugene Hopkins Jr. and sister, Frances Chandler preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife, Mary; daughters, Betty Beason and her spouse, Nathan, Anne Hopkins and spouse, Howard Richmond, Linda Hawkins and spouse, Stephen. Also surviving are grandchildren, Glynnon Wiggins and spouse, Walter, Emily Beason, Allison McIntyre, Amy Britt, Richard Hawkins and spouse, Carol Appenzeller, Randy Hawkins and spouse, Lisa Regul; as well as three great-grandchildren , Elise and Jocelyn Wiggins and Ian Wiggins. MEMORIAL SERVICE MONDAY JUNE 30, 2008 10:30 A.M. THE TOWERS 1 TOWERS PARK LANE SAN ANTONIO, TX In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Lewis A. Hopkins Endowment Chemistry Scholarship Fund at Berry College, P.O. Box 490069, Mount Berry, GA. 30149. Interment will be in Arlington National Cemetery. You are invited to sign the guestbook at www.porterloring. com Arrangements with Porter Loring Mortuary.

[Wayne Little]

[Gnomey]