Lt. Virgil P. Kirkham’s Story V 2.0

August 31, 2010

A few days ago, August 26, 2010, someone sent me an email about a town called Plzen, Czech Republic. The Town holds an annual celebration of the liberation of Plzen by George Patton's 3rd Army. Specifically, it was the 16th Armored Division and the 2nd Infantry Division that marched into Plzen.

The story came from an article on a blog site called Brigade and the author was named Nick, but I found no other ID. Some how, the Brigade web site obtained the story of Plsen from Doug LaViolette who is the President of the Brian LaViolette Foundation. He wrote the article and took the pictures while visiting Plzen during an annual celebration and then published the story on his foundation's web site.. Here is a link to his web site: www.briansjourney.com. It was Doug's story that I read on my email while I was traveling in Prague, Czech Republic.

The story tells the tale of a Czech Republic woman named  Zdenka (Dena) Sladkova who had taken care of the crash site where Lt. Virgil P. Kirkham was killed in WW II. The Lieutenant was attacking a truck convoy near the towns of Trhanov/Ujezd which is approximately 66 Km from Pilsen/Plzen, Czech Republic. It is reported by Lt. Kirkham's brother, Marion, that Virgil was the last Allied combat aviator to be killed in action in the European Theater during WW II.

The motivations and actions of the players in this story may be hard to understand unless you have a feel for the geography and politics of the time. Take a look at the Map to get a better feel for where you are in Europe.

Our worlds are beset with some of the strangest accidents of history and this is one.  In the past, I have poked fun at my dear friend Rex Decker and his unshakable talent to spend not much more than 30 seconds with another human being and to discover, to everyone’s happiness, that he has millions of strings of historic experiences that emanate from his being and sweep the cosmos looking for matching strings of other existence.  That’s a lot of BS meaning Rex can talk to anyone about anything and find some part of his past that registers with some part of the past of his conversation mate.  The strings of historic experiences, however, seem to me to be very real.  Whoever sent me that email, whipped one of his strings across one of mine and I could not help but cast my strings to the local area to see what would happen.  This "string casting" is a subconscious act but brought to execution by a desire to investigate the subtle moments in our lives that carry the tenets of a coincidence. For me, the results were mind bending.

The Tale:

I read and reread the email.  It’s not telling me enough!  I do the Google thing on Lt. Virgil P. Kirkham while I am waiting for breakfast in the Paris Hotel in Prague, Czech Republic.

This is a place of near misses.

It’s most important miss, and perhaps the least understood miss, is that the Islamic invasion of Europe stopped in Vienna and never got this far west in eastern Europe.  So there are few Islamic problems like the rest of Western Europe are now enjoying.

The second miss is not so lucky. In 1938, the Sudetenland, a ragged chunk of land populated by ethnic Germans and which wraps itself around the Sudeten Mountains is part of Bohemia and Moravia in the then Czechoslovakia.

Drang nach Osten and lebensraum.

During his time in prison, Hitler dictated the book Mein Kampf to his confidant Rudolf Hess, in Mein Kampf, he outlined Germany's need for growth for the German people or as they called it... lebensraum. In Hitler's view, the lands into which the Germans could grow lay to the east. Consequently, the expressions lebensraum and Drang nach Osten (Drive to the east) became two of the essential ideological pillars of the Nazi's Third Reich.

Prior to his invasion of Poland, Hitler worked his political and diplomatic bolt to acquire the lebensraum that he required for his growing Third Reich.  He threatened war in Europe if he could not have the ethnic Germans who lived in the Sudetenland.

Europe demonstrated its fear of war with WWI still fresh in its collected memory. This fear caused capitulation to Hitler's demands.

The result was the The Council of Munich, called on September 29, 1938 and attended by Great Britain, Germany, Italy and France. The Council agreed to allow Hitler to annex the Sudetenland without military conflict. Czechoslovakia was not present at the Conference but was the object of a long historical habit of Europe appeasing tyrants because they fear the wars that ultimately engulf this portion of the planet. Three million Czech citizens became German citizens over night.

The third miss: The fogs of war during the competition between the US and the USSR towards the end of the second WW finds Prague in Russki hands and Pilsen, one hour to the west falls into the hands of  the16^th Armored Division of V Corps commanded by BG John L. Pierce.

Google has done its job and I start more casting.

Ho Hum right?  Well not if you live in Pilsen under the Germans for six years.  When the 16^th Armored entered Pilsen, America may have created its most ardent champion.  Americans could and can do no wrong in this place.

So in this environment, we end the life of Lt. Kirkham.  Virgil, strafing the convoy, is hit in the face by German small arms fire and his P-47 crashes into the mountains a single click (1000 meters) from the little village of Ujezd and burns.  A small 14 year old little girl in this village (Zdenka (Dena) Sladkova) ran to the site and began a 65 year task of administering the condition of the memorial site at which Lt. Kirkham perished.

Why did Dena do this?  Why?  What was in it for her?  I had to find out the answer to these questions and more, but what I really wanted to do was to visit the site and pay my respects to a fellow combat aviator.

There are time limits here.  The time is now.  In this place, at this time, at this meshing of the stars.  It is impossible to comprehend how I, with just a modicum of curiosity, could let an opportunity of this kind pass me by without generating  a future level of regret  that would have at its source my own lethargy and haunt me to the end of days.

So the tale continues.

Like most tales, this one has a host of characters.  The first is our guide, Ms. Katerina Friedova of Kate, Ltd.  Kate is our tour person here in Prague.  I approached her and asked her to find out how I would find the site once I traveled to Pilsen.  She said she did not know but that she would try to find out.  The next day we were gone sight seeing most of the day while Kate was doing her research.  Her first call was to the George S. Patton museum in Pilsen.  After much discussion, they advised that there was a gentleman named George (Jiri) Lavicka who knew Dena well and might be able to guide me to the site. (Let me say from the outset, that Czech has so many consonants it is almost impossible to pronounce and my keyboard will not reproduce the symbols that might help.)  So what you see is what you get.

I talked to George for the first time this AM on the phone and he spoke understandable English.  Much better than my Czech. He advised me that I would be able to recognize him at the bus station because he had a black patch over his left eye.  We made plans on how we would meet and then both of us returned to our daily tasks. All I had to do was turn left out of the hotel, walk a half a block and lower myself to the subway platform and catch the yellow west bound train to Zlicin and get off.  Then, buy a ticket for a bus from Zlicin to Pilsen.  Piece-o-cake.  An hour and a half later I am dismounting from the bus and there is George waiting for me on the platform as planned.

We exchanged greetings and moved out to the street where I got in the front seat of a VW crossover of some sort not seen in the states.  I immediately noticed the odor of dog and George introduced me to his four month old German Shepard named “George” Yup, dog and owner with same name.  Both named after George S. Patton of Third Army fame, I assume.

George I and George II and I started a miserable cold, rainy drive to Trhanov/Ujezd where I met the timeless Dena Sladkova at a lively 80+ years.  (As a note, I have included pictures of the town signs of all the towns we drove through on our way to see Ms. Sladkova.  Many are way out of focus because I took them through the window of a moving car in the rain.  I only included them to give a taste of how different things can be from your own environment.)   Dena is very spry and slips herself and her umbrella into the rear seat.  George II does not have a chance in the back seat and finds a comfortable place on the floor. George I drives the three of us for about three Kilometers into the hills and stops on the side of the road next to a two wheel oxen cart path that is, by now, a slippery, muddy, miserable mess.  I am worried about Dena keeping her footing in this cold swamping trail.  I need not have been concerned.  Dena can walk the legs off of a camel and never have a drink.  Unbelievable, she is.  We slip and slid for somewhere between one half and three quarters of mile until we come upon the memorial site.

Physically, the site is incredibly underwhelming.  Spiritually, emotionally and patriotically, it is a sounding brass not a tinkling cymbal.   I lower myself next to the memorial to pull a set of water protected pictures from the rocks in the memorial. This pilot was just a kid.  Younger than I when I went to war, much younger.  The whole scene starts to press down on me.  The cold, the rain, the dark and unfamiliar forest of this west Czech province and my own imagination force me to struggle to keep my voice from cracking when I ask George to tell Dena thank you for taking good care of this American pilot’s place of final commitment.  Dena does not smile but grimly says you are welcome as translated by George. We take pictures and return to the car without a spoken word.  See link below.

George invites me and our octogenarian companion for lunch at the only place in town.  It was unique in its décor only because I had never been in a small town Czech restaurant before.  We were greeted at the door by the glares of four guys at a table who looked as if they were leg breakers in the Russian mafia.  Really cold.  George I and George II paid no never mind and we sat at a table over looking a small but attractive lake.  All three of us ordered black beer (it was terrific) two goulashes with bread dumplings and one roasted duck on purple sauerkraut.  (In the Czech Republic, people take dogs everywhere)  Dena went through her beer and goulash before George and I were half finished.  George I reserved some of his chow for George II who wolfed (no pun intended) it down with enthusiasm.  I don’t think I mentioned it before, but George II has two ears that continually flop to the middle of his head making an “X” on top of his head.  This seems to bother no one.  See link for pics of restaurant.

After lunch, we exited the restaurant back into the wet, dreary and overcast day we had put behind us when we entered the building. We said our good by's and hugged Dena with a final thank you.  She, umbrella in hand, walked off down the narrow lane to her cottage where her daughter and her family shared a residence.  This diminutive in stature but giant in character of a woman of history briskly sets off toward home. I am, again, the object of the weight of history. The weight is depressing because there seems, to me, to be no acknowledgment of the strength of heart of this woman walking straight out of my life forever. There is little chance I will be able to see her again.

George I starts driving to his house in Pilsen.  I probably misspoke when I called it a house.  It’s a shrine to the US Army and America.  See pics.  For Chuck Burhans:  Check out the restored 1945 Willis jeep restored with funds from the George S. Patton family.  He heats his house with wood in a ceramic fire box and his memorabilia continues from his garage into his house.  It’s a very nice place.  George presents me with a DVD he made about the Kirkham memorial and includes comments from Lt. Kirham’s brother, Marion.  Marion is a regular visitor to George’s home.  George also gives me a fine photo history of the WWII experiences in the Czech Republic and a list of license plates he would like for me to collect for him.  I will need some help.  Any of you folks have any license plates from any of the following states and DC in any condition that you would be willing to part with for George? [Delaware, DC, Rhode Island, New Hampshire or Massachusetts?]

Time is slipping buy and I need to head off to the bus station.  George is not to be denied.  We take off and he shows me the worlds largest Jewish Synagogue.  He says it holds 3000 attendees and is in big demand for concerts because of the acoustics.  We visit the 16^th Armored Division monument, the 2^nd Infantry Division's monument, the Thank You America monument, Amerika street, Roosovelt street, the city hall with an unbelievable production of the American flag,  St. Bartholomew’s Church and the George Patton Museum of which George is a life long member.  See the pics.  We did all this in 45 minutes.  George is one hell of a guide.

George gets me to the bus station with time to spare.  We shake hands and part.  An hour and half later I am in my hotel room stunned my experience.  I sit down and start to write immediately.

I pause and consider:

If it were not for the email, this could never have happened.

If it were not for Kate and George, none of this could have happened.

What was Lt. Virgil Kirkham thinking when he took off that morning?

What did and does motivate Dena Sladkova to accomplish this selfless act of kindness?

I have more questions than I did when I started this quest.  That’s the way things are and there is no going back.  I have two regrets: One, I do not speak Czech. Two, all of you could not have been with me and shared the same emotions I did while all this was happening.

Here is the link to the original web site on Lt. Kirkham and Dena.
http://thebrigade.com/2010/08/26/thank-you-to-the-city-of-pilsen-20-photos/

Here is the link to my pics on Snapfish.  One of the pictures you will see is two bronze heads and one silver egg shaped thing.  The two heads are part of a fence that surrounds part of the St. Bartholomew church.  The egg shape is part of the same fence but has been polished as you see it by passers by rubbing it for good luck.  According to George, its mostly students hoping for good grades.
http://www5.snapfish.com/bellsouth/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5228953014/a=134454019_134454019/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=bellsouth/
I know my text is long but perhaps you will feel some of the same things I did as I tried to put this together.

Addendum:

Since my return to the states, I have been on the receiving end of phone calls and emails from all over the place.

One of the first was from Doug LaViolette who told me he had seen my story via some chain of emails that contained the original email. He advised that he had published the Plsen story on his philanthropic web site.  So Doug is the origin of my knowledge of Plzen and Lt. Kirkham.

Perhaps the most moving of all my correspondence was perhaps the phone call I received from Lt. Kirkham's youngest brother, Marion Kirkham. Marion called me one evening when I was out in my garage working on some project. We talked for a long time. I do not know how long, but we discussed all the history we could think of in reference to Virgil's death and the events leading up to the memorial near Trhanov/Ujezd. Marion has traveled to the Czech Republic many times and stayed with George I on many occasions. In my dotage, I find it harder and harder to keep my emotions under control when I am in discussions about past and present sacrifices made by members of our armed forces. This phone call was no exception! I hope I am not putting words into Marion's mouth, but I get the impression that he seeks what many of us seek who have served our Nation. Not worship...just simple recognition of the contribution. In Marion's case, it's for his brother, Virgil.

As some of you may recall, George asked me if I could help him get a few license plates to fill out his collection. I solicited help from all those to whom I sent the Kirkham email. Well, thanks to my golfing buddy Dave Beveridge, my riding buddies Steve Sena and Steve Sanders and my cousin Peck Babcock we collected all the plates George wanted and I mailed them to him and I received an email advising that he had received the plates. So, its a hats off to all who helped make this happen.

There is more to the license plate story. When I had collected all the plates, I wrote an email to George telling him I had the plates but needed his mailing address. The mail bounced because George's mail box was full. So, I contacted Marion Kirkham and asked him if knew of a way to contact George and tell him to read his mail. Marion said that George's daughter was in the states providing au pair services to a friend of the group of folks who regularly travel to Plsen to join in the celebration of the Thank You America pageant. This person was Doug Brackenbraugh and several nights later he called me and we talked for a good half an hour. Turns out George's daughter, who I met in Plsen, was Skyping George most every night and would pass the word for him to read his mail. I got an email the next night. Cool huh?

I received an email from the grandson of Colonel Charles H. Noble the Command B Commander of the 16th Armored Division who is credited with freeing Plsen from the Germans.

I stopped my motorcycle on a street in my neighborhood to speak to a fellow rider who was walking with some friends. One of these friends was on his way to Europe to include Prague and asked me for my story. How he heard about it I can only guess it was my fellow rider who dropped the subject during their walk. See what I mean about stopping what you are doing and following your instincts. This is clearly two strings of historical experiences touching each other.

Then there is this from Kathy a self described patriotic American and proud daughter of a 16th Armored Division veteran: Mr. Fitch, I just read your email about your trip to Trhanov. It was forwarded to us from a veteran of the 16th Armored Div. My father was an MP in the 16th Armored and although my father is deceased, my husband and I have remained active with the veterans group. We have been to the Czech Rep twice, 2005 and 2010. We have witnessed the Liberation Festivals held in May in Plzen and traveled to some of the smaller towns for their memorial services. This year we too went to Trhanov and rode back thru the woods in WWII era jeeps. It rained then too. George Lavicka, the mayor and Pat Waters, Gen. Patton's grandson along with our veterans travel group were in attendance as Ms. Sladkova was given an award for her care of the crash site.

Finally, although not really, there is this from a second generation Czech: Your e-mail was forwarded to me because my husband and I have visited Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia) many times. My parents immigrated to the US in the early 1900's.

We met Virgil Kirkham's younger brother, Marion a couple of years ago when he spoke before a chapter of the Retired Federal Employees organization in Tigard, Oregon.

Twice we have been at the Pilsen liberation celebrations, but didn't get to Virgil Kirkham's memorial site. Your tale is great reading.

What made you want to visit the Czech Republic - beautiful country, handsome architure?

All of my correspondence was not necessarily fun or fruitful. I wrote the US Air Force Academy and the US Air Force Historical Section. Neither have a real interest in Virgil Kirkham's story. I wrote my two senators about what I perceived to be a shameful consideration of the this story that is filled with human examples of leadership, selfless giving of one's self and the ultimate sacrifice of giving up your life and future for the country of your birth or selection. I do not expect to hear from my two Senators.

Gus Fitch

 

Second Addendum or V 2.0

Greetings to All:

I do not know if any of you have seen these reports before and if you have, my regrets for the intrusion.

Attached are the official, now declassified, operational reports of the crash of Lt. Kirkham near Plsen, Czechoslovakia in 1945. 

I would not have been able to acquire the reports if it not been for a series of events by well meaning people that made it all possible.

As most of you know, I initially received very little help from the Air Force and the Air Force Academy when I first attempted to run to ground the circumstances of Virgil's death in combat.

Timed passed and I learned, through a newspaper article provided by Earl Ingram, about another young pilot killed in China as a member of the flying tigers and who hailed from Carthage, NC.  The news paper article outlined the steps they had to take to find and have the remains of Lt. Robert "Doyl" Upchurch returned to the US.  When I called the author of the article, I was invited to come to Carthage and get a tour of the memorial.  I did this with company from my group of riders who came with me on this trip.  During the visit, I mentioned the lack of interest from the Air Force to John Chappell the author of the newspaper article.  He contacted a retired Air Force three star, who called me and gave a contact number at the U. S. Air Force Historical Research Agency and provided the information regarding the timing of Virgil's death.  Several weeks later he called me and asked if I would like to have a copy of the data.  The result was the attached documents.

My thanks go out to Craig A. Mackey, Archives Technician/USAFR Historian, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

I hope this note finds all of you well, especially Marjorie Ingram.

Gus  12/20/2013