Peters, Bernard Lebovič

Lebovič, Bernard
     
Příjmení:
Surname:
Lebovič-Peters Lebovic-Peters
Jméno:
Given Name:
Bernard Bernard
Jméno v originále:
Original Name:
Bernard Lebovič-Peters
Fotografie či obrázek:
Photograph or Picture:
Hodnost:
Rank:
plukovník Colonel
Akademický či vědecký titul:
Academic or Scientific Title:
- -
Šlechtický titul:
Hereditary Title:
- -
Datum, místo narození:
Date and Place of Birth:
21.03.1919 Lipča /
21.03.1919 Lipcha /
Datum, místo úmrtí:
Date and Place of Decease:
06.08.2015 Berkhampstead
06.08.2015 Berkhampstead
Nejvýznamnější funkce:
(maximálně tři)
Most Important Appointments:
(up to three)
- radista a strelec 311. perute - Wireless Operator/Air Gunner of No. 311 Squadron RAF
Jiné významné skutečnosti:
(maximálně tři)
Other Notable Facts:
(up to three)
- -
Související články:
Related Articles:

Zdroje:
Sources:
www.vuapraha.cz
www.valka.cz
fcafa.com
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Peters-Bernard-Lebovic-t18283#685137 Version : 0
     
Příjmení:
Surname:
Lebovič-Peters Lebovic-Peters
Jméno:
Given Name:
Bernard Bernard
Jméno v originále:
Original Name:
Bernard Lebovič-Peters
Všeobecné vzdělání:
General Education:
DD.MM.RRRR-DD.MM.RRRR Obecná škola
DD.MM.RRRR-DD.MM.RRRR Primary School
Vojenské vzdělání:
Military Education:
DD.MM.RRRR-DD.MM.RRRR
DD.MM.RRRR-DD.MM.RRRR
Důstojnické hodnosti:
Officer Ranks:
DD.MM.RRRR
DD.MM.RRRR
Průběh vojenské služby:
Military Career:
DD.MM.RRRR-DD.MM.RRRR
DD.MM.RRRR-DD.MM.RRRR
Vyznamenání:
Awards:
Poznámka:
Note:
Číslo RAF - 788486

Dňa 25.11.2015 mu bola udelená medaila k 70. výročí ukončení druhé světové války in memoriam.
RAF No. 788486

On November 25, 2015, he was awarded „Honorary Commemorative Medal for the 70th anniversary of the end of the WW II“, in memoriam.
Zdroje:
Sources:
www.vuapraha.cz
www.valka.cz
fcafa.com
www.facebook.com
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Peters-Bernard-Lebovic-t18283#685139 Version : 0
Colonel Bernard Lebovich - Peters - RAF pilot


* 1919


Recently I tried to write an e-mail to one of the addresses of former Czechoslovak RAF pilots, Colonel Peters in England. No reply came for a long time, so I was beginning to consider my attempt unsuccessful. A few days ago, however, Mr Peters contacted Honza, saying that he would be arriving in the Czech Republic in a few days. After a very short stay in a military hostel in Juliska he was to leave for a spa, yet we still managed to reach him and arrange a meeting...
Colonel Peters is one of the veterans about whom I have very little or no information. However, I managed to get something from my friend Honza Lehovec...


He was born on 21.3.1919 in Lipč -Chust in Subcarpathian Russia, probably in a rather poor Jewish family. At the age of fifteen he left home for Bohemia to learn something and earn a living. He worked in a factory in Moravia, was fired after Munich, and then took up railroad work.
Although the chief of the railroad was German, he treated him very well even after the occupation of Bohemia in 1939 and even helped him, unlike many Czechs who turned their backs on him as a person of Jewish origin. In September 1939, when the Germans were still letting wealthy Jewish families emigrate to Palestine (if they were old people, they took in young Jews as family and paid for their emigration), he and one family also got away, via Vienna and then by boat on the Danube to Romania. While he was waiting there with others for the ship to Haifa, a certain Czech lieutenant colonel organized recruitment among our people for the Romanian Royal Army. This man was none other than Heliodor Píka! Bernard at first signed up, but then, when the opportunity arose to leave, he preferred to sail to Palestine.
It was only here that he enlisted in the British Army with the Czechoslovakian unit. After completing his training he was to be transferred by ship to Alexandria. However, the ship he sailed on, the Patria, was torpedoed and sank, killing about 260 people. Bernard was among those rescued and so eventually landed in Alexandria. He got with our unit to Tobruk, where he spent almost a year and a half. He served among other things as a sappers and destroyed mines. Just before the capture of Tobruk by Rommel's Afrika Korps he was evacuated to Lebanon with others and like many others he joined the RAF. In January 1943, he was one of 171 men from the so-called Eastern Air Group, former members of the Czechoslovak ground forces, who were selected to replenish our depleted Royal Air Force squadrons.
After completing the WOP/AG course with 111. OTU in Nassau, Bahamas, where complete crews were formed, he was assigned to the crew of P/O Jan Matejka. After returning to the islands in May 1944, he began flying operational Coastal Command anti-submarine patrols with this crew. This was already at the rank of F/Sgt (RAF registration number 788486).
Bernard flew a lot, taking "overtime" for others, and so he has flown over 1300 hours (he was chasing it because he wanted to get to the carriers...). They took a hit from ground defences in the fjord near Bergen, their No.4 engine was on fire and their right rudder and rear gunnery were shot through. But they all escaped unharmed.
After the war he returned home, served in the Air Transport Regiment and flew normally with VIPs. Then mainly with Pika, Svoboda and others. When he was with Pika in Romania, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and other orders from King Michael of Romania. In 1947 he transferred from LDP to CSA. After the Communist coup in 1948, when he was thrown out of the airline, he got out and back to England thanks to his connections and the help of many people. However, he had to get a formal divorce from his English wife before this could happen so that she could return home without any problems. On their return to England, they remarried in 1949 and have lived together ever since...
In England, like many other Czechoslovak emigrants, he rejoined the RAF. He flew Lancasters for 5 years with the 203rd ASR (Air Sea Rescue) Squadron. Here too there was no shortage of dramatic situations. In a severe crash, caused by a navigational error by the pilot, he happily survived with only minor injuries ("...he sat 1.5 miles in front of an airfield and knocked down a farm...").
Eventually he left the RAF, bought a small diner and started making hamburgers. He did well in business, "...getting better and better until he was king before he started McDonald's. He owned perhaps 28 pubs in England and others on the continent. Then he sold everything and has been living like a rich man in Newport ever since. He plays golf, goes to the races (including the famous Ascot), had a stable and at one time 7 horses. He travels the world, takes lots of photos, has two grandsons (13 and 16) and is happy. And he is blessed! Just a journey from Subcarpathian Rus to the highest society. In short, a true selfmademan..."


I arrived at Juliska with some delay until about a quarter to seven in the evening. I spent the whole day in Kovarska, so it was simply impossible to get there earlier. But Honza was already there, so thanks to him I quickly overcame my initial shyness and joined the already started discussions.
And again, as it is quite usual, practically not a word was said about flying and war. From the conversation interrupted by my arrival I learned that Mr. Peters' great hobby was photography. Interestingly, if I'm counting correctly, this is the third veteran I've spoken to in recent times. We looked at some photographs and discussed experiences with various instruments. I also got something signed on that occasion. In fact, that was the main reason I tried to make the email contact the other day.
From the less serious things we gradually got to the more serious ones. There was a lot of talk about the post-war era, the imprisonment of airmen, emigration. Colonel Peters remembered one of the airmen who had a son just after he was put in prison. He was released after ten long years and only then did he see his son for the first time. He also told of a man who had been sent to the mines. The family broke up, the wife got a divorce, the children disowned him. When he was to be released after eighteen years, he said he asked if he could stay in the mines. On the other hand, he also gave several examples of "partisans" and "participants in the uprising", praised and decorated with medals. Heroes...
We couldn't help but ask about the relations between veterans, both those living here in the Czech Republic and those from abroad. We received a completely honest answer (in general, Colonel Peters answered everything honestly and frankly, because as he said himself, and we were in complete agreement, the truth must come out, no matter how hard it is...). He told us that he does not get along with other airmen much, with a few exceptions (he mentioned Gen. Grofcik or Mrs. Kent, the widow of a British airman), because he does not get along with them. Of course, he was not referring to language differences. Although there was a very noticeable English accent in his speech (he said that he preferred to speak English because it came naturally to him, he said he had to think about Czech...), we understood each other well. He talked about disagreements between the airmen, quarrels over trifles, envy. I have to say that it shocked us, but it doesn't mean any change in our relationship with veterans...
Time moved on a bit and we ended up having dinner at the Pod Juliskou restaurant. I remember it from the army as a one-star spittoon, which is what Honza himself said. But he added that it had recently been renovated. We had to admit that it had undergone considerable changes for the better.
With the pleasant surroundings, it has once again moved on to more pleasant topics. And what better to talk about over food than food. Mr. Colonel first discussed the subject of proper steak preparation, for, as he said, here in Prague all steaks are made from several different kinds of meat, and are neither classic steaks nor fillets, just meat. Then the soup came up. Honza added a funny story. He told how Colonel Ada Zeleny, former navigator of "311", came from England. He said that at that time he expressed his wish to have a classic tripe soup somewhere, because in England it is not cooked. His son Kuba put Mr. Zeleny in the car and he went to the pub. After a while, he said, he called to say that they had driven all over Dejvice and there was no tripe anywhere. Well, it turned out that they invited the Colonel to visit and while they were chatting and drinking wine, my wife prepared the tripe. I didn't tell the story, but I remembered Colonel Paleček, who explained to us at lunch in Pardubice that cutting potatoes with a knife was a social offence according to Gutt-Jarkovsky, a famous faux pas...
Over coffee I subsequently learned a very important piece of information. Mr. Peters and Honza were arranging to write their story. Naturally I paid attention and so did Honza, because it doesn't happen every day and besides, Mr. Peters' story is, as I suspect I said, very interesting. Well, I'll make it a little shorter. We drilled and persuaded and it turned out that as soon as Colonel Peters came back from the spa and went home, he started sending his parts. So there will be another unique contribution! It's just going to take some patience, because it's all in English and I'll have to translate it. Anyway, God willing, this story will appear here eventually...
... After returning to Juliska, we discussed a few more details about the story, talked about a few little things and slowly made our way home. And we didn't want to do that, I'm sorry to admit. Mr. Peters apologized for keeping us so late, we apologized to him. It would have been lovely to go on talking, and there would certainly have been plenty to talk about. But unfortunately, Sunday's day can't wait for Thursday. We said our goodbyes, Honza threw me on the "Kulaty" and hurry home. Or rather to Zizkov, I wouldn't be able to catch an earlier train to Milewitz than the one at 23:00 and I would arrive home after midnight. Considering the fatigue of the material over the last few days, that would not be good...
Last Monday (6 September 2004) Colonel Peters and other airmen met President Klaus at the Czech Embassy in London. He was said to be quite disillusioned with him, Klaus behaved exactly as we know him, arrogant and oblivious, shook hands, didn't even say "boo" and turned away. So he said that "...you can forget about a president like that..." (we agree...)
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Peters-Bernard-Lebovic-t18283#67207 Version : 0

This post has not been translated to English yet. Please use the TRANSLATE button above to see machine translation of this post.

Tuhle nám pan Peters poslal e-mailem...
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Peters-Bernard-Lebovic-t18283#76845 Version : 0

Diskuse

This post has not been translated to English yet. Please use the TRANSLATE button above to see machine translation of this post.

Pan Peters by měl od 7.4. obývat v Praze a v Mariánských lázních!
Krom toho mám přichystané nějaké fotky...
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Peters-Bernard-Lebovic-t18283#97592 Version : 0
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