US Edition
Richard Secord, decorated Vietnam War pilot later exposed as middleman in Iran-Contra scandal
He insisted he was doing the Reagan administration’s bidding, acting as a patriot for a cause he believed to be righteous: fighting the Left
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Major James Nairne, Normandy veteran who went on to travel the world as a Queen’s Messenger
He conveyed confidential messages and documents from the Foreign Office to British embassies and high commissions
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Madeleine Riffaud, French Resistance heroine who withstood weeks of torture by the Gestapo
‘We were the messengers, the intelligence-gatherers, the repairers of the web. When men fell or were captured, we got the news through’
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Lieutenant Commander Tony Fane, naval airman who flew Sea Furies during the Korean War
‘A silly mistake, a lapse in concentration, a flak shell with your name on it, could very quickly lead to disaster’
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Yeshayahu Gavish, Israeli commander in Six-Day War who occupied Suez and Gaza Strip against orders
Defence minister Moshe Dayan had told him: ‘I approve your military plans, but I am imposing two limitations.’ Gavish ignored both
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General Sir Mike Jackson, redoubtable and straight-talking former head of the British Army
Ordered to block Pristina international airport runway, Jackson reportedly said: ‘Sir, I’m not going to start the Third World War for you’
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Johnnie Trotman, pilot who flew ‘nuisance raids’ and bombed Berlin, Cologne and the Ruhr – obituary
He was awarded the DFC after landing his plane with its undercarriage retracted after suffering engine failure returning from Germany
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Captain Richard Woodman, merchant seaman and writer of histories and the Nathaniel Drinkwater novels
Woodman saw himself in the tradition of Captain Marryat and looked askance at writers in the genre who lacked his seagoing experience
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Robert Atkins, officer awarded an MC after leading Gurkhas in a daring attack in the Malayan jungle
To reach the enemy camps, Atkins slogged through heavy rain dodging snakes, scorpions and disease-ridden leeches and mosquitoes
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Hassan Nasrallah, militant cleric who rose to become the head of Hezbollah
Islam ‘is a divine message designed for humanity,’ he said. ‘It can answer any question man might ask concerning his life’
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Masamitsu Yoshioka, airman thought to be the last survivor of the Japanese attackers at Pearl Harbor
When he and his comrades were told they would be attacking the US base, ‘I knew that Hawaii would be the place where I would die’
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Major Tonie Holt, pioneer of battlefield tours who helped thousands make pilgrimages to war graves
Major & Mrs Holt’s Battlefield Tours led groups to the Normandy beaches, Arnhem, Colditz, Gallipoli, South Africa, America and even Vietnam
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Dr Arthur Page, wartime naval pilot who survived landing in crashing Pacific seas
Page became a popular country doctor, but the loss of a friend in an accident on deck gave him an unforgettable memory of the misery of war
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Galina Brok-Beltsova, last survivor of Stalin’s Second World War female air regiments
She flew 36 combat missions as a bomber-navigator, starting in June 1944 with Operation Bagration to liberate Belorussia
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Tom Pritchard, army medic thought to be the last Australian ‘Rat’ at the Siege of Tobruk
At Tobruk, the Australians were in constant action for six months, withstanding more than 1,000 air attacks in the first 90 days
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ACM Sir David Harcourt-Smith, flight commander who saw action during Suez and in Aden
In Aden he flew a Venom fighter bomber in attacks on rebel strongholds and during Suez he led attacks on Egyptian airfields
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Geoff Cooper, engineer who helped to make Britain’s aircraft carriers world-class fighting machines
He worked on catapult-launch and optical-landing systems and experimented with rubberised flightdecks and rocket-powered take-offs
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Diana Mayes, wartime submariner’s widow who vividly recalled life ‘following the fleet’
She suffered two grievous losses early in the Second World War, and during the Plymouth Blitz ran four miles home through the burning city
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‘Black Mac’ Macpherson, Cold War submariner as professional at sea as he was wild in port – obituary
His captain joked: ‘What is small, black and sheepish and stands on the jetty? A navigation officer who has missed his submarine on sailing’
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Air Marshal Sir Peter Norriss, pilot and instructor who tested Prince Charles’s navigational skills – obituary
He founded the Black Saints display team, led his squadron through the Grand Canyon and was appointed ADC to Queen Elizabeth
