Airmen and Other Evaders

Click on a name below to be connected to the page containing that person’s obituary. Note also that the Index to Evaders on this website often lists obituaries that appeared in the AFEES newsletters.  If you find that there is an obituary for an evader, there will be a link to the page on the website containing the newsletters and you can print out the newsletter’s page containing the obituary.   Indexing of the AFEES newsletters is an on-going project and further obituaries will come to light.

 

2 thoughts on “Airmen and Other Evaders

  1. Please provide me with the obituary for Hayward Claude Spinks. He did a forced landing near Paris during WWII. My elderly French friend, Prof. Roger Folliot, was a teenager in the French resistance and rescued Hayward Spinks. His account is on the Association des Sauveteurs d’Aviateurs Allies website. I am trying to locate any descendants of Hayward Spinks at the request of Prof. Folliot who would like to share memorabilia with them.

    Response of Webmaster:
    Do you know when and where he died? And was he a member of AFEES? The index to the AFEES newsletters has not been completed but if his date of death is available and if he was a member of AFEES, there might be an obituary about him that appeared in the AFEES newsletter not long after he died.

    Mr. Knopp replied: No, I didn’t see your posted message on the AFEES website. So, I appreciate your email to me. Heyward Claude Spinks died on 26 Jan. 1990, at the Veterans Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. I don’t know if he was a member of the AFEES. I have also learned that he also had a sister who died on 18 Sept. 1990 but I’m not sure where. Maybe Atlanta, GA. Her name was Janet Spinks Martin. It seems Heyward was married but it didn’t last. I guess the question is whether or not his sister had children and, if so, who they are and where they live.
    Thanks for you interest.

    The Webmaster replied: 1. The AFEES membership list of 1991 at https://airforceescape.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/April-1991.pdf (pg. 8) still listed him at P.O. Box 844, Beaufort, So. Carolina 29901 as “Deceased AFEES”.

    2. The Spring 1990 AFEES newsletter at https://airforceescape.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Spring-1990.pdf on pg. 2 contains an “In Memoriam” about him but with no information on his postwar life other than that at that time was survived by a sister and a mother and that he had served as Secretary Treasurer of AFEES for many years. It gave his date of death as Jan. 26, 1990. It also says he is buried at the National Cemetery in Beaufort, So. Carolina. I checked the rest of the Spring issue and the Summer issue of the AFEES newsletter but there was nothing further on Mr. Spinks.

    3. I checked the WhitePages for the family name at http://www.whitepages.com/name/Spinks/Beaufort-SC and there are several people with that family name still living in Beaufort and even more who used to live there.

    4. FindAGrave for the National Cemetery at Beaufort at https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Spinks&GSfn=Heyward&GSiman=1&GScid=69466&GRid=2955383& lists a Heyward O. Spinks with a photo of the headstone and a date of death of Jan. 27, 1990. Despite the differences in middle initial and day of death, it seems likely this is the same person.

    5. You might try contacting the Visitor Center at Beaufort, Visitors Center Info 713 Craven ST
    Beaufort, SC 29902
    Phone: (843) 525-8500

    6. The Beaufort public library (http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/) might have files of obituaries or at least back issues of the local newspaper which they would be willing to search for you for Mr. Spinks obituary since you have the date of death.

    7. Or try an online newspaper archive at https://newspaperarchive.com/cgi/Beaufort-South-Carolina/?gclid=CjwKCAjwranNBRBhEiwASu908J6CYhE9oYJQqRNKo4CjPAz7KMWpaWg3M00c1LnXQtbSoLzMJm727xoCEq0QAvD_BwE that offers a free seven-day introductory offer.

    Mr. Knopp replied:

    Dear Bruce Bolinger,

    What terrific support you have provided! I very much appreciate your help and will pursue the various leads you have provided. Will let you know the results.

    All the best,
    Jon

    1. Mr. Knopp:

      Heyward Spinks was a great friend and business partner of my late grandfather, Laurance Davis.

      Heyward passed when I was 13, and I assisted my grandfather with the his estate sale. Following Heyward’s death my grandfather moved into his office, which is now my office.

      Heyward and I enjoy the same type of books, and I inherited his collection with my office. I have read many of them. One of my favorites is “The Escape Room” by Airey Neave.

      I am quite certain that you have found the correct Heyward Spinks. I remember vividly listening to his account of his forced landing in occupied France, and how he was “smuggled out” by lovely French citizens at a huge liability to themselves.

      Regrettably I know of no living relatives. We were likely the closest he had to a family when the good Lord called him home in January 1990.

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