Josef Bryks
| Josef Bryks | |
|---|---|
Josef Bryks
|
|
| Born |
18 March 1916 Lašťany, Moravia now Bělkovice-Lašťany, Czech Republic |
| Died | 11 August 1957 (aged 41) Ostrov nad Ohří, Czechoslovakia now Czech Republic |
| Buried | Prague |
| Allegiance |
 Czechoslovakia United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch | No. 242 Squadron RAF, Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1937 – 1945 (1948) |
| Rank |
Flight Lieutenant Brigadier General (posthumously) |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
| Awards |
Order of the British Empire (MBE) Order of the White Lion (posthumously) and many others |
Flight Lieutenant Josef Bryks (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjozɛf brɪks]; 18 March 1916, Lašťany, now Bělkovice-Lašťany – 11 August 1957,Ostrov nad Ohří) was a Czechoslovak soldier and fighter pilot, who went abroad at the start of the Second World War to fight against Nazi Germany. He served with the Royal Air Force, but his aircraft was shot down and he was captured. He tried to escape several times, succeeding three times, but each time was recaptured afterwards. After the war he was a victim of political repression in communist Czechoslovakia, imprisoned and forced to work in uranium mines. He died of a heart attack in the prison hospital. He was rehabilitated after the fall of communism in 1989 and posthumously promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
Josef Bryks was the seventh of eight children of farmer František Bryks and his wife Anna Bryksová. He studied at the Commercial Academy in Olomouc and in June 1935 passed his Matura (final exam of secondary education). In October he entered the Czechoslovak Army. He started his service at a cavalry regiment in Košice. At the same time he studied at a school for cavalry officers in Pardubice until 1936. Between 1936 and 1937 he continued his studies at the Military Academy in Hranice, where he changed his focus from the cavalry to the air force. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant with the specialization of an aerial observer. Between 1937 and 1938 he was trained as a pilot in Prostějov.
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