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Czech wartime hero, paratrooper Klemeš dies

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Prague, Aug 7 (CTK) – Lieutenant General Jaroslav Klemes, a WWII hero and veteran who was the last living paratrooper sent from Britain to the occupied Czech Lands during the war, died at the age of 95 years this afternoon, Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky tweeted today.

“Not only the last living paratrooper who landed in the Protectorate, but also a long-standing patron of the military paratroopers has passed away,” Stropnicky said.

Klemes, born on January 31, 1922, was a member of the Czechoslovak resistance movement abroad during World War Two. He was fighting in France and Britain.

Klemes was parachuted in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia as a radio operator of the Platinum-Pewter group in the night in February 1945. He landed near Nasavrky, east Bohemia. He was sending news from the Protectorate to Britain. With his Anna transmitter, he also took part in the anti-Nazi Prague Uprising in May 1945.

Klimes was awarded a Czechoslovak war cross of merit and other decorations. He was persecuted after the Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948. He was rehabilitated in 1968 and in 1990, after the collapse of the communist regime.

He received a medal for heroism in 1997 and the Order of White Lion last October.

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