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

