30 | SEPTEMBER 12 • 2019
ELIZABETH KATZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
S
isters Janice Morgan of
Birmingham and Andrea
Kempner Blake of Oak
Park believe in miracles and
the kindness of strangers.
Blake received a mysterious
phone call in March from a
man writing a book about
the crew of the Tomahawk
Warrior. The plane crashed in
a field about 20 miles outside
of London on Aug. 12, 1944,
during World War II. Among
the crew members who died
in the crash was the then
25-year-old Saul Kempner,
Janice and Andrea’
s uncle and
a second lieutenant in the
United States Air Force.
They never met their uncle,
who was the twin brother of
their father Irving and a deco-
rated soldier who had received
a Purple Heart and Air Medal
for his service. And unbe-
knownst to the sisters, their
Uncle Saul kept a personal,
detailed diary, chronicling
the many missions he and
his crewmates made with the
600th Bomb Squadron, 398th
Group of the 8th U.S. Army
Air Force.
The sisters’
grandfather
Samuel Kempner and father
Irving wrote letters to Air
Force officials in the desperate
attempts to retrieve the lost
diary.
David Huntley, who was
then an 8-year-old boy living
outside of London in the
Village of Loudwater, remem-
bers running through the
fields to see that fatal crash,
about a mile and a half away.
Huntley, now in his 80s, pro-
cured Saul Kempner’
s diary
as part of the research he has
conducted for the last two-
and-a-half years to write the
book The Tomahawk Warrior:
The Final Honor.
Huntley, who lives in Dallas,
recently met with Morgan
and Blake at the Birmingham
Museum to return to them the
75-year-old piece of Kempner
family history.
“It’
s a miraculous story,”
said 66-year-old Blake. “The
diary is such a personal, per-
sonal item; it’
s almost beyond
words.”
Blake said she was suspi-
cious of Huntley’
s calls but
when she received a text from
him asking if she was related
to Saul Kempner, that’
s when
she finally picked up the
phone.
“This whole experience has
changed our family,” she said.
“Now it’
s a living miracle.”
Huntley, who has already
published a fictional book
set in World War II, is con-
tinuing to do research for his
second book. The pilot of
the Tomahawk Warrior, Lt.
Charles Searl, according to
Huntley’
s research, did every-
thing he could to avoid hitting
the village of Penn, near where
Huntley and his family lived
in Loudwater.
Huntley said the memory of
the crash has remained with
him his whole life. He also
has maintained a deep sense
of gratitude for the crew who
avoided crashing into village
residents.
“I felt I had a need to make
contact with the Kempner
family,” Huntley said, who has
lived in America for about 40
years.
Saul Kempner’
s diary had
continued on page 32
History
Reclaimed
Sisters receive lost-long diary of their heroic uncle who perished in World War II.
TOP: History was made recently at the
Birmingham Museum when 2nd Lt.
Saul Kempner’
s diary was returned to
his nieces, Andrea and Janice. Pictured
are Angie Ginther, Martin Ginther,
David Huntley, Janice Morgan and
Andrea Kempner Blake. Also pictured
to the right is Saul Kempner, who was
a World War II hero who had won a
Purple Heart and an Air Medal for his
service. BOTTOM: Andrea Kempner
Blake of Oak Park, left, and Janice
Morgan of Birmingham, received the
long-lost diary of their uncle, Saul
Kempner.
PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIEST
Jews in the D