Farewell to Charles Strasser, the last Czechoslovak World War II veteran in the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies
24.07.2024 / 16:01 | Aktualizováno: 30.07.2024 / 16:36
A farewell service was held on the Island of Jersey on Monday 22 July for Charles Strasser, the last Czechoslovak veteran of the Second World War to live in the territory of the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies.
Charles Strasser died on 10 June, just four days after attending the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings alongside President Peter Paul and another Czechoslovak veteran, Jiri Kafka. The funeral ceremony, entitled "Celebrating the life of Charles Strasser", was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Czech Army and the Czech Embassy in London, including Ambassador Marie Chatardová, who delivered one of five commemorative speeches recalling the various dimensions of his rich life. The veteran's coffin was then carried on its final journey by a guard of honour from the Czech Army.
Charles Strasser escaped to the UK on one of the Kindertransports just before the outbreak of the Second World War. He enlisted in 1944 and served as a motor pool driver during the war. He was involved in both the siege of Dunkirk and the liberation of Czechoslovakia, and later his language skills led him to join General Ecker's team at the Nuremberg Trials, where he helped secure evidence of crimes committed not only in Czechoslovakia but elsewhere in Europe. He ran a successful photographic engineering business and was also a keen aviator. He only stopped flying at the age of 92.
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