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Tributes paid after last Buchenwald airman dies

Edward Sault
BBC South
Family photo An old sepia colour photo of a young Stanley Booker in his RAF uniform. His peaked cap is at a slight angle and bears the RAF emblem.Family photo
Former squadron leader Stanley Booker was 22 years old when his aircraft was shot down

Tributes have been paid to a 102-year-old RAF veteran who survived "brutal interrogations" by the Nazis during World War Two.

Former squadron leader Stanley Booker, from Christchurch in Dorset, died in January and a memorial service is taking place later.

He was 22 years old when his aircraft was shot down over northern France in June 1944 and was the last of the "lost airmen of Buchenwald".

Mr Booker, who was born in Gillingham, Kent, was imprisoned until May 1945 and later received an MBE for his post-war work with British intelligence.

Pat Vinycomb looks at the camera. She has short, white hair and is wearing a black top with a string of white beads around her neck. Behind her on the chair is a colourful, patterned throw and cushions.
Pat Vinycomb said her father's experiences in the concentration camp were "horrendous"

He was one of 168 Allied airmen imprisoned at the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

Mr Booker was also held by the Gestapo in Paris and later at Stalag Luft III.  

His daughter, Pat Vinycomb, who lives in Christchurch, said: "The German guards were so brutal to the prisoners, and some of them were murdered and beaten to death in front of their eyes.

"They had to also witness some prisoners being hung.

"The men didn't know what this concentration camp was, and it was horrendous."

Aged 17, Mr Booker signed up as an RAF apprentice - he trained as an observer in Wales, and later at Bomber Command in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, before joining 10 Squadron as a navigator flying on Halifax bomber aircraft.

SSAFA Stanley Booker posing for the camera. He has grey hair and is wearing a white shirt and RAF tie with a black jacket. On the wall behind him is a frame containing his medals, uniform buttons and badges.SSAFA
Stanley Booker was awarded the Legion d'honneur in 2021, at the age of 98

When Mr Booker's aeroplane was shot down over France, while on a mission to take out railway lines, the aircraft's pilot and wireless operator were killed, while other crew members escaped by parachute.

He went on to find refuge with the French resistance but was betrayed to the Gestapo by a Belgian traitor.

In 2021, in an interview with armed forces charity SSAFA, Mr Booker said of the experience: "I saw this old chappy in the field, and I had damaged my knee and knew I couldn't walk too far.

"I went up to him and said, in my best schoolboy French, that I was an English officer, and could he help me... and he put his arms around me and gave me a great big kiss."

Steve Williams looking at the camera. He has white hair and a white beard. He is wearing a white shirt with blue stripes. In the background hanging on the wall is a print of a Lancaster bomber in flight.
Friend and aviation historian Steve Williams said Mr Booker had an incredible memory

After Buchenwald, Mr Booker and more than 100 other inmates were transferred to Stalag Luft III camp in Poland.

A few weeks later, the prisoners were forced on a three-week march back to Germany, where Mr Booker remained until the war in Europe ended in May 1945.

Friend and aviation historian Steve Williams said: "At over 100, Stanley's memory was incredible.

"Not only about his desperate time during the war and in captivity but also all the other amazing things he did with his life afterwards."

In January 2021, at the age of 98, he was awarded the Legion d'honneur by the French government.

After living in Bracknell, Berkshire, for much of his life, he moved to Christchurch to be closer to his family.

A private thanksgiving service will be held in Hinton, Hampshire.

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