Aiding The Partisans: Air Force, Part 52

There is a great article by Hugh Halliday that talks about my grandfather, Paul Stichman.  Hugh greatly assisted me in deciphering Paul\’s military records when I was doing the research on his life. The article is in Legion Magazine and here is the link:

http://legionmagazine.com/en/2012/07/aiding-the-partisans-air-force-part-52/

Here is the portion of the article about Paul:

Sergeant Paul Stichman was born in Dobrinci, Yugoslavia, in 1909, but came to Canada in 1925. He was married and had a daughter when he joined the RCAF in Toronto in 1942. Trained as an armourer, he might have spent the war servicing bomber turrets, but by May 1943 authorities realized he spoke Serbo-Croat. His service record shows a series of attachments to British formations and intelligence units. He was an interpreter and was probably trained to operate radios. His last known posting was to “Headquarters, Middle East” on March 21, 1944. He was then swallowed up in the fog of war, killed in action on May 4, 1944, somewhere northwest of Zagreb.

Prior to being dropped into Yugoslavia, Stichman had been under the command of Major James Broom Millar, MBE (British Intelligence). On Aug. 30, 1944, Millar wrote to Stichman’s widow. “He was a most efficient NCO and his great courage and unfailing good humour made him very popular with all men in the Unit. I was not present when he met his death and am sorry that I cannot describe to you the exact circumstances, as no other men from our unit were present at the time. Paul had been temporarily attached to an Allied Unit and was fighting with them. He became involved in an enemy offensive and we heard that he met his death on 4th May. I understand that he was killed in the thick of the fighting, and did not have to undergo any prolonged suffering. We are still trying to obtain details with regard to his funeral and place of burial, but this is proving unusually difficult as most of the men who were engaged in battle with him were killed at the same time.”

Stichman has no known grave; his name is recorded on the Malta Memorial.