There is something beautiful about the legends of our time. The man in the photograph below was an RAF fighter pilot named John “Paddy” Hemingway. Born in 1919, Mr. Hemingway was the last surviving airman of the “Battle of Britain” who took to the skies in defense of his country when Hitler threatened to invade the United Kingdom…
Mr. Hemingway was the last survivor of the so-called “The Few”, the airmen who protected the skies with their lives, against terrifying odds. In the immortal words of Sir Winston Churchill:
“The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
There is something hauntingly beautiful about that line to me… “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Paddy Hemingway served throughout WWII and did so with distinction. Four times his airplane was so badly damaged by enemy fire that he had to leave in mid-air and evacuate by parachute — he landed sometimes at sea, sometimes over land and once he landed in fascist Italy where Italian partisans spirited him to safety… each time he found a way to return to his squadron and resume duty.
These were men who, at 18 or 19, joined the airforce and were willing to risk life and limb to keep their countries safe. In order to protect their families and loved ones from being invaded and oppressed by brutal dictatorships, they put it all on the line without doubt, without hesitation, without protest. John Hemingway left this world on March 17, 2025, at the age of 105. The last of “The Few”. A legend. He passed away… but he will never die.