Alex Jenkins passed away

Dear members

It is with much sadness that we heard about Alex Jenkins passing away last night in Australia.

Alex Jenkins was 92 years old and lived in Orange, Australia. Alex became the leader of an international research team in the field of high temperature alloys, and was later appointed to foundation professor at the Sydney University. He retired in 1999 and enjoyed the rest of his life in Orange, Central West New South Wales, Australia with his lovely wife Pauline. Jenkins favorite hang out was his beautiful garden of which he spoke with much pride.

Alex and his crew were shot in February 1945 in their Lancaster bomber returning from a mission in Germany. They were surprised by a German fighter. His six crew members didn’t survive this attack, Jenkins landed with his parachute in Linkhout.

Jenkins returned to Linkhout several times. The last time was in May 2012, when he wanted to thank our War Visitors Linkhout personally for our efforts in keeping the memory of him and his crew alive. We are eager to keep on doing this as long as we can.

We will always remember their heroism, those who returned home, and those who didn’t. We are honored to have met you in Linkhout, Mr. Jenkins, and you will never be forgotten by us. I know you were very proud of us by continuing the memory, but not half as proud as we are of you and your comrades who came over and liberated us all. You are an example to all of us.

We would also like to thank the mayor and the municipality of Lummen for hanging the flag half-mast at the city hall.

Our sincere condolences to the family of Alex, especially his wife Pauline.

RIP Sir
War Visitors Linkhout