Sven Hjalmar Lampell (18 December 1920 – 28 June 2007) was a

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the es ...

officer.

Career

Lampell was born on 18 December 1920 in

Södertälje Södertälje ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Södermanland and Stockholm County, Sweden and seat of Södertälje Municipality. As of 2017, it has 72,704 inhabitants. Södertälje is located at Mälarens confluence in to the Baltic Sea ...

, Sweden, the son of Hjalmar Lampell, a merchant, and his wife Tyra (née Berglund).

Career

Lampell was commissioned as an officer in 1943, and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1943, captain in 1954, major in 1956 and to lieutenant colonel in the

in 1961. He was chief of flight operations at

Södertörn Wing Södertörn Wing ( sv, Södertörns flygflottilj), also F 18 Tullinge, or simply F 18, is a former Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located in Tullinge just south-west of the capital Stockholm on the east coast. Heraldry and tradition ...

(F 18) from 1956 to 1960 and chief of staff at the Third Air Command (E 3) in 1960 and was serving with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in the Congo from 1961 to 1962 and in 1963. During the

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...

from 1961 to 1963 he was Chief Fighter Operations Officer of the Swedish UN-unit 22 U.N. Fighter Squadron (F 22). Lampell was promoted to colonel in 1965 and served in the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

as a part of the

Biafran airlift The Biafran Airlift was an international humanitarian relief effort that transported food and medicine to Biafra during the 1967–1970 secession war from Nigeria (Nigerian Civil War). It was the largest civilian airlift and, after the Berlin air ...

Biafra Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated form ...

from 1968 to 1969 where he organized aid flights into the encircled and starving population during the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...

. The sight of the starving children affected him strongly and became a turning point in his life. He served in the Red Cross in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

from 1971 to 1972 and was wing commander at

Hälsinge Wing Hälsinge Wing ( sv, Hälsinge flygflottilj), also F 15 Söderhamn, or simply F 15, is a former Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Söderhamn in northern Sweden. Heraldry and traditions Coat of arms The first coat of arms ...

(F 15) from 1965 to 1972. He left Hälsinge Wing and the Air Force in 1972 for a position as Chief Delegate at the

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. The years serving in the Red Cross also involved missions in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Other work

Lampell was a consultant and pilot during the filming of ''

The Yellow Division ''The Yellow Squadron'' (Swedish: ''Gula divisionen'') is a 1954 romantic drama film directed by Stig Olin and starring Lars Ekborg, Hasse Ekman and Ann-Marie Gyllenspetz.Qvist & Von Bagh p.111 It was released in the wake of the Korean War, set ...

'' (1954) and in the film he made, among other things, a looping around the

Västerbron () is an arch bridge in central Stockholm, Sweden. With a total length exceeding 600 m, 340 m of which stretches over water, it is one of the major bridges in Stockholm, offering one of the most panoramic views of the central part of the city cent ...

's bridge arch vault with a

Saab 91 Safir The Saab 91 Safir (Swedish for sapphire) is a three (91A, B, B-2) or four (91C, D) seater, single engine trainer aircraft. The Safir was built by Saab AB in Linköping, Sweden (203 aircraft) and by '' De Schelde'' in Dordrecht, Netherlands (120 ...

. In the early 1960s, he led the acclaimed exhibition group Acro Hunters. In addition to his military career, he was also an elite swimmer and world champion in

aeronautical pentathlon Aeronautical pentathlon is a sporting event at some multi-sport events, such as the Military World Games. Despite the name, the sport has six events: shooting, fencing, orienteering, basketball skills, obstacle course and swimming. The idea is to ...

Personal life

In 1944 Lampell married the actress

Eva Dahlbeck Eva Elisabet Dahlbeck (8 March 1920 – 8 February 2008) was a Swedish stage, film, and television actress. She received a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film ''Brink of Life'' (1958). Dahlbeck retired ...

. He was the father of Tomas (born 1944) and Magnus (born 1959). Lampell died on 28 June 2007 in

Hässelby Hässelby is a Swedish town that is a part of Hässelby-Vällingby in the city of Stockholm, Sweden, comprising the suburban areas Hässelby Gård, Hässelby Strand and Hässelby Villastad. The territory also corresponds to Hässelby parish in ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Awards and decorations

Swedish

Knight of the

Order of the Sword The Royal Order of the Sword (officially: ''Royal Order of the Sword''; Swedish: ''Kungliga Svärdsorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry and military decoration created by King Frederick I of Sweden on February 23, 1748, together with the Or ...

(1961) * Swedish Military Sports Association's medal of merit (''Sveriges militära idrottsförbunds förtjänstmedalj'')

Foreign

Officer of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

Friends of Liberation War Honour Awards and decorations of the Bangladesh Liberation War were decorations which were bestowed by the major warring parties during the years of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan all issued awards and decorations during ...

(posthumously, 2013) * UN_ONUC_Medal_ribbon

United Nations Medal A United Nations Medal is an international decoration An international decoration is a military award which is not bestowed by a particular country, but rather by an international organization such as the United Nations or NATO. Such awards ar ...

(

ONUC The United Nations Operation in the Congo (french: Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, abbreviated to ONUC) was a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in the Republic of the Congo in 1960 in response to the Congo Crisis. ONUC was the ...

)

Bibliography

References

External links

Interview with Sven Lampell (SVT, 1961)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lampell, Sven 1920 births 2007 deaths Swedish aviators Swedish Air Force colonels Red Cross personnel People from Södertälje Knights of the Order of the Sword People of the Nigerian Civil War People of the Congo Crisis