There are calls for a special national service to honour Battle of Britain pilots after the last surviving member of ‘The Few’ died.
The Prince of Wales led tributes to John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, who the Mail revealed passed away on Monday aged 105.
William said Britons ‘owe so much’ to the former fighter pilot who was one of the small band of brothers who kept the Luftwaffe at bay in 1940. They were dubbed ‘The Few’ by Winston Churchill who hailed their extraordinary air campaign as ‘our finest hour’.
With Group Captain Hemingway’s death, there are calls to honour him and all of the Battle of Britain pilots at a national service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey.
The idea was backed by retired military chiefs including Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, who said: ‘A service in Westminster Abbey would be a very good way of recognising that the last of The Few has gone, and to remind new generations of the time when a handful of very brave men stepped up to the mark.
‘It was a seminal period in British history, when there was us standing alone against a great tyranny – and there might be a lot of reflections today with Russia having a go at Ukraine.’
Lord Dannatt, a former Chief of the General Staff, added: ‘A service to honour the memory of The Few would be very appropriate. When Britain stood alone in 1940, our Army having been defeated in France, it was The Few of the RAF who fought and won the Battle of Britain.
‘That gave Winston Churchill the confidence to say we would fight on – to eventual victory. That victory in Europe came on 8th May 1945. This year we can celebrate 80 years on – as we mourn and honour the last of The Few.’
John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway at his home near Dublin
Writing on social media, Prince William said: ‘I was sad to hear about the passing of John “Paddy” Hemingway this morning, the last of “The Few”.’
The war hero believed his efforts during the Battle of Britain in 1940 were simply part of the job
Group Captain Hemingway, originally from Dublin, joined the RAF as a teenager before the Second World War. He served every day of the war, somehow surviving an astonishing series of near-death experiences including being shot down four times, surviving a plane crash and being saved by a tree when his parachute failed to open.
On July 1, 1941, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and in September that year he was mentioned in despatches by senior officers. He went on to serve as an air fighter controller during D-Day operations, and in 1945 he joined the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces with 324 Wing.
In a statement shared to social media, signed ‘W’, Prince William said: ‘I was sad to hear about the passing of John “Paddy” Hemingway this morning, the last of “The Few”.
‘We owe so much to Paddy and his generation for our freedoms today. Their bravery and sacrifice will always be remembered.
‘We shall never forget them.’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer added: ‘Eighty years ago, the courage and determination of Paddy and all our brave RAF pilots helped bring an end to the Second World War.
‘They fearlessly flew over enemy territory to protect the UK and its Allies, risking their lives.
‘He never considered himself a hero and often referred to himself as the “Lucky Irishman”, a man simply doing his job, like so many others of his generation.
Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, said: ‘A service in Westminster Abbey would be a very good way of recognising that the last of The Few has gone’
John (second from left) aged 22 with Squadron Leader Peter Townsend (with cane) and other RAF comrades. He retired from the RAF in 1974 as a Group Captain, having also been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
The Prince of Wales has paid a moving personal tribute to John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, the last surviving Battle of Britain pilot who has died at the age of 105
Former Chief of the General Staff Lord Dannatt said: ‘A service to honour the memory of The Few would be very appropriate’
Prince William also served with the RAF , training as Search and Rescue pilot in 2009, a role he held for three years. Above: Prince William, Prince of Wales attends the Sovereign’s Parade on behalf of King Charles III at the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell on September 12, 2024
‘Despite his sacrifice, he would tell stories of the joyous memories he made and moments he shared with his peers, many of whom never returned home.
‘Their sense of duty and service secured our freedom, and we shall never forget them.’
Defence Secretary John Healey said: ‘Paddy came from a generation who understood the importance of freedom and sacrificed so much to achieve it.
‘The last known Battle of Britain pilot, he embodied the deep courage of that incredible generation.’
Mr Hemingway’s son, Brian, told the Mail his father had been ‘happy’ and ‘in fighting form’ to the end at the care home which had been his home for the last few years.
‘He never felt that there was anything special about him,’ Brian said.
‘He thought the special ones were the friends who never returned. And now he is back with his squadron. It is very sad but his is a life to be both celebrated and mourned.’
In his last newspaper interview, with the Mail’s Robert Hardman, he attributed his grand old age to being ‘a lucky Irishman’.
That he departed this world on St Patrick’s Day seems entirely in keeping with the extraordinary story of his life.
Scrambled on the very first night of the Second World War and despatched to France a week later in September 1939, he saw his squadron decimated even before the start of the Battle of Britain ten months later.
All through those bloody months of 1940, he was one of that small number of exhausted and impossibly brave young men defending Britain from wave after wave of enemy attacks. Even at the end of the battle, he was still only 21.
There are calls for a special national service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey in London to honour Battle of Britain pilots after the last surviving member of ‘The Few’ died
A life-size statue of Mr Hemingway, ready for action and looking to the sky, will be on display at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum next month
After most of his contemporaries had either made the ultimate sacrifice, suffered dreadful burns or deservedly moved on to other duties, ‘Paddy’ Hemingway was still volunteering to be in the thick of the action.
His last brush with death came right at the end of the war in April 1945, when he was shot down over Italy, evaded capture and made it back through enemy lines, dressed as a peasant, with the help of a ten-year-old Italian girl.
During the war, he flew both Hurricanes and Spitfires, refusing to take sides in that age-old dispute over which was the better plane.
He called the former a ‘marvellous’ aircraft, ‘a gentle old lady, comfortable and old-fashioned’ and a ‘very stable platform for combat’.
He would always be among the first to point out that this was the workhorse of the Battle of Britain, destroying more enemy planes than any other.
The stronger, faster Spitfire was ‘wonderful – except you had to be very careful landing. If you were not careful with a Spitfire, you would get into all sorts of trouble’.
As for aerial combat, the Hemingway advice to fighter pilots was clear: ‘Stay busy amongst the enemy bombers, shoot as many targets as possible and don’t wait to confirm any results beyond the most immediately obvious ones.’
There was a similar sense of collective loss after the death of Harry Patch, the last fighting ‘Tommy’ of the First World War, in 2009.
John Hemingway’s family will remember a much-loved father of three, a grandfather and a great-grandfather who was always faintly bemused by any fuss.
He was not remotely religious, to the extent that he had no wish for a funeral ceremony.
His response to those who might ask about his life was a genuine note of surprise.
‘Is anyone remotely interested?’ he would reply. The Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge certainly was.
Their new, life-size statue of Mr Hemingway (ready for action and looking to the sky) will be on display when the museum reopens next month.