British Ordnance Collectors Network
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Sad , sad news .
- Thread starter siegfreid
- Start date
Sad sad news Rest In Peace Kev
Did not know the guy, never communicated with him, just spent hours trawling his messages over his extensive knowledge of his chosen subject, of which he was a Meister. Any chance of someone who knew him personally doing a short obituary so that closure can unfortunately be made?.
I "met" Kev on BOCN about 6 years ago, or rather he got in touch with me as we both had a strong interest in SD 2's and M 83's and from there we grew to be really good friends. Apart from his incredible knowledge of butterfly bombs he had a real interest in most things militaria and was just as happy to be researching a tiny piece of torpedo that he's managed to find as he was tracking down the all elusive mint condition butterfly.
I made the long journey to his house on the other side of the UK on several occasions to meet up and talk, boy could Kev talk, once he got going on a subject the day would fly buy and before I knew it it was time to get on the road again, after many hours of enjoyable company.
Kev was a lovely kind guy, interesting, fun to be with, always looking out for people especially his daughter.
At 49 his passing was far too soon. Missing you Kev.
RIP.
Dave.
I made the long journey to his house on the other side of the UK on several occasions to meet up and talk, boy could Kev talk, once he got going on a subject the day would fly buy and before I knew it it was time to get on the road again, after many hours of enjoyable company.
Kev was a lovely kind guy, interesting, fun to be with, always looking out for people especially his daughter.
At 49 his passing was far too soon. Missing you Kev.
RIP.
Dave.
pointblank0
BOCN Supporter
Very sorry to hear.
It was the funeral of BOCN’s ‘Butterfly’ today. As wholly expected, much was said at the service about Kev being a true gentleman. He was kind and intelligent with an unparalleled knowledge of his specific military history interests and always keen to pass on his expertise to help others. Kev was a wonderful, genuine person and, above all, was much admired for being brilliant as both father and mother to his young daughter.
I was very fortunate to have spent several hours with Kev just 3 days before he was taken ill and rushed into hospital. He appeared to be perfectly well and was great company, as normal. There were so many things he wanted to tell me about and time just flew by as it always did at ‘Kev’s place’! He showed me that he’d been busy hand colouring some beautifully, detailed graphics showing how the various SD2 fuzes operate. These were for the ‘Butterfly Bomb’ book he was writing. I know that amongst much other research he was continually collecting data about the famous and horrific German SD2 raid on Grimsby in June 1943 for the book. (And also about a little-known and much lighter raid in the Lincoln area.)
We also watched a DVD (source: Channel 4??) showing the late, great Eric Wakeling walking around Grimsby talking about the SD2 raid. Afterwards, Kev very kindly let me have a signed copy of Lt. Col. Eric Wakeling’s book ‘The Lonely War’. This was a typical gesture from Kev. He said he didn’t need two signed copies and wanted me to have the other at cost price. Eric Wakeling was a true hero in Kev’s opinion.
Three days later Kev struggled to email me to say that he had been taken ill as he knew I would be calling to collect my item from a package due to be delivered to his house a few hours later. Instead, I ended up visiting him in the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby. He was obviously really poorly. I hadn’t expected this but we were still able to have a short conversation. He was keen to know if the package had arrived! This was the last day Kev was awake. He went into a steady decline and died 18 days later with his family present. Kev wasn’t a Grimsby area resident and it’s a cruel irony that he died just a few streets away from where SD2s were dropped in 1943.
I learnt today that Kev really made the most of his 49 years of life. He travelled the world twice, once in each direction, coming back to work with animals. He then put everything into his role as a devoted single parent and still found time to be the ‘oracle’ we all knew. It’s a huge pity Kev never got to produce his book. It would’ve been the world-class, standard SD2 reference book.
RIP Kev. We should honour him by making sure he is never forgotten.
I was very fortunate to have spent several hours with Kev just 3 days before he was taken ill and rushed into hospital. He appeared to be perfectly well and was great company, as normal. There were so many things he wanted to tell me about and time just flew by as it always did at ‘Kev’s place’! He showed me that he’d been busy hand colouring some beautifully, detailed graphics showing how the various SD2 fuzes operate. These were for the ‘Butterfly Bomb’ book he was writing. I know that amongst much other research he was continually collecting data about the famous and horrific German SD2 raid on Grimsby in June 1943 for the book. (And also about a little-known and much lighter raid in the Lincoln area.)
We also watched a DVD (source: Channel 4??) showing the late, great Eric Wakeling walking around Grimsby talking about the SD2 raid. Afterwards, Kev very kindly let me have a signed copy of Lt. Col. Eric Wakeling’s book ‘The Lonely War’. This was a typical gesture from Kev. He said he didn’t need two signed copies and wanted me to have the other at cost price. Eric Wakeling was a true hero in Kev’s opinion.
Three days later Kev struggled to email me to say that he had been taken ill as he knew I would be calling to collect my item from a package due to be delivered to his house a few hours later. Instead, I ended up visiting him in the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby. He was obviously really poorly. I hadn’t expected this but we were still able to have a short conversation. He was keen to know if the package had arrived! This was the last day Kev was awake. He went into a steady decline and died 18 days later with his family present. Kev wasn’t a Grimsby area resident and it’s a cruel irony that he died just a few streets away from where SD2s were dropped in 1943.
I learnt today that Kev really made the most of his 49 years of life. He travelled the world twice, once in each direction, coming back to work with animals. He then put everything into his role as a devoted single parent and still found time to be the ‘oracle’ we all knew. It’s a huge pity Kev never got to produce his book. It would’ve been the world-class, standard SD2 reference book.
RIP Kev. We should honour him by making sure he is never forgotten.
Here here, well said - thank you! I cannot add to what has already been said but it was great to have known him. He will be remembered and his past posts will continue to help fellow collectors on this forum for many years to come.
