Boček, Emil

Retired army general Emil Bocek was born on 25 February 1923 in Brno - Tuřany. At the age of less than seventeen, in late 1939, he secretly left the Protectorate for Slovakia, where he crossed the Hungarian border near Sered. He made it as far as Budapest, and from there to southern Hungary, where he was arrested. He was imprisoned in Budapest's Tolonzház Prison for about a month. He was later returned to Slovakia.


At the border, he and other refugees were picked up by Slovak soldiers and taken to a financial guard post. An attempt to bribe the Slovaks ended in failure, but several of the group managed to escape again to Hungary. Among them was Emil. He made his way back to Budapest, where he sought out the French and Polish consulates. From Budapest he had already successfully made his way through Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey to Beirut.


In Beirut he only formally signed the application form for the Foreign Legion. As early as 5 April 1940, he sailed on the Compiegne to Marseille. On 16 April he reported to Czechoslovak troops in Agde. He was assigned as a private to the 9th Company of the 1st Czechoslovak Infantry Regiment; on 30 May he was transferred to the 2nd Czechoslovak Infantry Regiment. With it he took part in the retreat fighting against the Germans. He managed to evacuate to Great Britain; from the Mediterranean port of Sète he sailed on the Egyptian ship Rod El Farag to Great Britain. There he enlisted in the Air Force, with whom he first served as a mechanic. In October 1942 he was accepted for pilot training and became one of the youngest Czechoslovak fighter pilots to complete operational flights during the Second World War.


He completed his pilot training in the Canadian towns of De Winton and Medicine Hat in the province of Alberta. In October 1944, he was stationed as a fighter pilot with the Czechoslovak 310th Fighter Squadron, in which he flew 26 operational sorties. He made his first operational flight on 28 October 1944, and since then he has participated in combat actions in parades of Allied bombers over Europe and in attacks on German positions.


After the end of the war, he landed with other Czechoslovak fighter pilots at Prague-Ruzyně Airport on 13 August 1945, after which he was assigned to Aviation Regiment 2 at Prague-Kbely Airport.Prague-Kbely Airport.[url=/topic/view/48024]On 1 December 1945, he was promoted to Air Force Reserve Staff Sergeant.


On the first of April 1946 he left the air force for civilian life, first running a business with a friend, later opening a motorcycle repair shop. The persecution after 1948 did not affect him, in 1951 he "voluntarily" moved to the Mototechna enterprise. He stayed there until 1957. From 1 January 1958 he started working as a turner at the Research Institute of Instrumentation Technology of the Academy of Sciences. He worked there for more than twenty-five years (1958-1983) until he retired. In 1951 he married Eva Svobodová, with whom he has a son Jiří and a daughter Zuzana, today he lives in Brno-Bystřec.

mocr.army.cz
www.pametnaroda.cz

Photo of Emil Boček during service in the RAF.

Source:
http://www.pametnaroda.cz/witness/index/id/253.

Brigadier general Emil Boček in 93 rokoch graduated 27.07.2016 on an ex-jet basic the RAF Biggin Hill years dvojmiestnym Supermarine Spitfire T Mk.IX, sera. no MJ627 (G-BMSB), tact. code 9G-P. Machine pôvodne slúžiaci u 441. perute bol prestavaný of jednomiestnej version of LF Mk.IXC vo firme Vickers Armstrong Ltd. pre írske the air force.

Source:
dennikn.sk
https://fcafa.com/
www.waddingtonflyingclub.com.

brig. gen Emil Boček during a speech at the statue of gen Freedom in Svidníku on the occasion of the 72. the anniversary of the Carpathian-it was operations (6.10.2016)

a photo of your own.

On the occasion of the SNP celebrations on 31.08.2018, Emil Bocek Supply Base II Martin honoured the then Major General Martin with a visit. He was accompanied by Brigadier General v.v. Václav Kuchynka and Lt. v.v. Božena Ivanová. During the meeting with the members of the base, all three veterans reminisced about their young years in the resistance and added a few smiley memories from their lives.


At the end, as the then Chief of Staff of the base, I presented the two generals with the chronicle of the unit, in which they made an entry.

Source: author's archive, photo own