Last Man Standing: Geoffrey Rothwell
The WW2 Podcast
Angus Wallace
4.6 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 26 November 2018
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"'Stay low, stay on track, and stay alive' was the motto of the RAF's most secret Station, Tempsford. That's exactly what Geoffrey Rothwell did ‒ DFC & Bar, 1939-45 Star, Aircrew Europe Star with France/Germany Clasp, Defence Medal, Victory Medal, Order of Leopold II & Palme, Croix de Guerre 1940 & Palme, Bomber Command Medal, POW medal, La Légion d'honneur ‒ from Bomber Command via SOE to Stalag and back."
In episode 53 I talked to Gabrielle McDonald-Rothwell about the SOE agent Diana Rowden. After we had stopped recording Gabrielle told me about her husband Geoffrey Rothwell, was the last surviving pilot for SOE during the war. At the time she was in the process of checking through a biography of Geoff's experiences.
Sadly since then Geoff has passed away, but Gabrielle has managed to complete the book recounting his life and wartime experiences and its been released, the title is 'Last Man Standing'.
In this bonus episode of the podcast I talk to Gabrielle about Geoff's life.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and |
| 0:02.0 | welcome to a bonus episode of the World War II podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | This episode is a thank you for all the kind words of support I've |
| 0:11.0 | received and encouragement from you guys who regularly |
| 0:14.4 | listen to the podcast follow on Facebook and for those of you who are patrons of the |
| 0:20.8 | show. I do try to give a little bit extra back to patrons but I also wanted to |
| 0:27.4 | put something out as a big thank you to everyone. Last year in episode 53 I talked to Gabrielle |
| 0:35.4 | McDonald Rothwell about the S.O. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. |
| 0:39.5 | Rauden. Well after we'd stop recording, Gabrielle told me about her husband Jeffrey Rothwell, who was the last surviving pilot for SUE during the war. |
| 0:51.0 | At the time, she was in the process of checking through a biography of Jeff's |
| 0:55.5 | experiences. Sadly since then Jeff has passed away but Gabrielle has managed to |
| 1:01.9 | complete the book recounting his life and wartime experiences and has now been released |
| 1:07.8 | The title is Last Man Standing |
| 1:11.8 | Gabriel welcome back. Jeff had an amazing life and looking at his |
| 1:18.0 | war record it's the incredible he even got through that. He joined the RF as a pilot before even the outbreak of war and I've always been led to believe that they preferred grammar school or public school boys |
| 1:32.0 | when the Arif recruited. |
| 1:34.0 | Was that Jeff's background? |
| 1:36.0 | No, no, no, not at all. |
| 1:38.0 | He, um, as a child, he had to do very definite thought in his head that he would love to be a pilot one day because he grew up of course in the |
| 1:50.4 | advent of aviation with all the Charles Kingsford Smith and all the famous aviators. |
| 1:58.0 | He was merely very lucky enough to see one of the huge shipsships, the German Graf Sippelen and the British R101, the world's |
| 2:08.6 | biggest airship. |
... |
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