Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

Václav Robert Bozděch (15 July 1912 in

Soběkury Soběkury (german: Sobichur) is a municipality and village in Plzeň-South District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. Administrative parts The village of Horušany is an administrative part of Soběkury. Ge ...

– 27 February 1980 in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

air gunner of World War II. He was a British

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF) squadron gunner and commander of training centers.

Early life

Bozděch was trained as a locksmith. Before the war he became a soldier and a trained air gunner.

World War II

He arrived to Great Britain through Poland and then France, where he served in the French Air Force a short time. In the UK, he served first as an air gunner with No. 311 Squadron RAF. After having flown his first tour he became an instructor and commander of the training centres. Bozdech was accompanied through the war by a

German Shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for ...

dog, which he found as a puppy after a crash landing while in the French Air Force, who he and his fellow Czech airmen named Antis, after a well-known Soviet aeroplane ANT-40. Their story was later told in at least 3 books. (see

Dogs in warfare Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military ...

)

After World War II

After the war he returned to Czechoslovakia and worked at the Ministry of Defence. He married and had a son. He also wrote and published books – ''Gentlemen of Dusk'' and ''Duel with Destiny''. After the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état he went into exile a second time and returned to the UK, where he rejoined the RAF and married again. He never returned to his homeland. In the context of rehabilitation, after 1989 he was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel.

References and further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bozdech, Vaclav Robert 1912 births 1980 deaths People from Plzeň-South District Non-British Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Czechoslovak emigrants to the United Kingdom