Jan Linzel, Cross of Merit, Airman's Cross

A DUTCH war hero who fought the Nazis in the Battle of Britain has died in Ireland aged 103.
Jan Linzel passed away in hospital surrounded by family in his adopted Cork on Sunday afternoon.
The WWII veteran had moved here in 1978 after he, his wife Marianne and their teenage son began holidaying in Glengarriff five years earlier and fell in love with the locality.
His death has made national headlines in the Netherlands, where the Dutch Defence Ministry released a statement announcing he had passed away.
The elderly veteran was just 24 when Germany invaded his homeland in 1940. He shot down two German fighters before being hit himself and bailing out with a bullet wound in the leg.
Linzel later managed to escape to Britain via Lisbon, where he took part in more than 150 combat sorties for the RAF flying Spitfires and Hawker Tempests.
After the war, he was awarded the Dutch Cross of Merit and the Airman’s Cross."
Dutch WWII hero who fought Nazis in Battle of Britain dies aged 103 in Cork