Ervin Hoida, a Czech veteran of World War II who had settled in the United Kingdom for the remainder of his life, has died at the age of 105. He served in the army’s tank battalion for the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade and was a part of the siege of Dunkirk where his bravery earned him recognition through the Czechoslovak War Cross. In 1945, his tank was among those that played a role in the allied victory entrance into Prague.
Born to Jewish parents Ferdinand Hojda, an entrepreneur, and Františka Enochová, a housewife in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, he had originally planned to study architecture in high school. However, due to the Depression, he had to take woodworking apprenticeship instead and went on to work as a draughtsman at a furniture factory after graduation from vocational school.
At the age of 20, German soldiers had already occupied Ostrava. With the help of the police chief, he and his two brothers obtained student visas to Italy, where they were eventually smuggled into France on a fishing boat. While in Nice, he was able to join the Foreign Legion with the help of the Czechoslovak consul, who later facilitated his enlistment in the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade.
Ervin met Isabel Lucas, from Merseyside, during military training in Britain in 1943. She was working in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the female branch of the British army. The couple later got married in the same year and started raising a family. Once the war had ended, Ervin, Isabel, and their first son, Peter, returned briefly to Ostrava.
Ervin was unable to find work without joining the Communist party and they relocated again back to the UK. After Isabel’s passing, Ervin moved back to Merseyside, where Lena Binks and he later met and married. He is survived by Lena, his son me, Lena’s two sons from a previous marriage Steve and Pete, three grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren
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