World War II
He gained the rank of Group Captain in the service of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. When World War II broke out Loel Guinness went on active duty with the Royal Air Force. In 1940 Loel flew as a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, famously buying a petrol station near his aerodrome when his driving was restricted by rationing. In 1944 he became commander of a wing of the Second Tactical Air Force and by the war's end he had been mentioned in despatches five times. He was invested as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1942. The Netherlands made him a commander of the Order of Orange Nassau and France made him an officer of the Legion of Honor and awarded him a Croix de Guerre.
Read more about this topic: Thomas "Loel" Guinness
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“One who knew how to appropriate the true value of this world would be the poorest man in it. The poor rich man! all he has is what he has bought.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In peacetime, they had all been normal decent, cowards, frightened of their wives, trembling before their bosses, terrified at the passing of the years, but war had made them gallant. They had been greedy men. Now they were self-sacrificing. They had been selfish. Now they were generous. War isn’t hell at all. It’s man at his best, the highest morality he is capable of.”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)