Who Is Douglas Bader First Wife Thelma, Is She Still Alive? Details To Know

Douglas Bader was an Aircraft pilot whose first wife was Thelma. Let’s get to know if she is still alive or not. 

During WWII, Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader was a Royal Air Force flying ace. He had 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable, and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.

Bader enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1928 and was commissioned in 1930. Unfortunately, he crashed and lost both legs in December 1931 while attempting aerobatics.

He recovered after being on the verge of death, retook flight training, passed his check flights, and then requested reactivation as a pilot. However, even though no regulations applied to his situation, he was forced to retire on medical grounds against his will.

Who Is Douglas Bader First Wife Thelma? Is She Still Alive?

In 1967, Bader’s first wife, Thelma, was diagnosed with throat cancer. Recognizing that her survival was unlikely, the two spent as much time as possible with each other.

Unfortunately, Thelma was a smoker, and even though she quit, it did not save her. Thelma died on January 24, 1971, after a long illness at the age of 64.

On January 3, 1973, Bader married Joan Murray; the couple would spend the rest of their lives in the Berkshire village of Marlston. Joan was the steel magnate’s daughter.

She enjoyed riding and belonged to the British Limbless Ex-Association. Servicemen’s They first met at an association event in 1960. She also aided organizations that depend on the disabled.

Douglas Bader Family 

On February 21, 1910, Bader was born in St John’s Wood, London, the second son of civil engineer Major Frederick Roberts Bader (1867–1922) and his wife, Jessie Scott MacKenzie.

His first two years were spent with McCann relatives on the Isle of Man, while his father returned to his work in India after the birth of his son, accompanied by Bader’s mother and older brother Frederick.

Bader spent a year in India with his parents when he was two years old. When his father resigned from his job in 1913, the family relocated to Kew, London.

Bader’s father served in the Royal Engineers during World War I and was wounded in action in 1917.

After the war, he stayed in France, rising to the rank of major before dying in 1922 of complications from his wounds in a hospital in Saint-Omer, the same area where Bader escaped and was captured in 1941.

What Happened To Douglas Bader?

Douglas Bader was apprehended by German forces shortly after landing and taken to a nearby hospital, where both of his artificial legs were treated.

The Germans were utterly unaware of who they had taken as a prisoner and did not pay close attention to his security.

Douglas escaped from the hospital with the help of some locals. He was taken to the home of a local farmer, only to be betrayed and returned to the German forces.

After a few more failed escape attempts, the Germans took him to the prisoner-of-war camp at ‘Colditz Castle.’

Douglas made several attempts to escape while still at ‘Colditz,’ and he also demonstrated hostility toward his captors by refusing to cooperate.

The ‘First United States Army’ liberated all war prisoners from ‘Colditz’ after the war ended in 1945. Douglas relocated to the United Kingdom after his release.

You May Also Like