Joseph F. Quirk Jr., 90, of Prospect Park, an Army Air Force tail
gunner shot down over Nazi-occupied France during World War II whose
escape to England via the French Resistance was chronicled in a film,
died Nov. 21 of age-related illness at home.
Mr. Quirk, a lifelong Collingdale resident, worked as a production
supervisor for the Boeing Co. for 38 years, his family said, and was
active on the Collingdale Borough Council.
He was best known, though, for two hair-raising weeks he spent in 1943
fleeing the Nazis. His tale was so compelling that British filmmaker
William Ennals wove it into his 2006 film Rose, a documentary about a French secret agent.
Mr. Quirk told Ennals that he and 13 others were aboard a 446th Bomb
Group B-24 on Nov. 18, bound from Africa to England, when German forces
intercepted the plane's radio traffic.
The Germans transmitted false direction, guiding the bomber to occupied
French airspace, where it was shot down over the French port of Brest.
As the aircraft burst into flames, Mr. Quirk parachuted out.
"At dusk, several men came out looking for me," he recalled in a 2006
interview with the Delaware County Daily Times. "They found me in the
weeds. I didn't know if I was caught."
Mr. Quirk was picked up by the French Resistance and during the next two
weeks, he was moved from one safe house to the next. At one point, he
was told to "follow the woman in the big hat" down a busy street.
The woman turned out to be "Agent Rose," the famous French underground
leader Andrče Peel. By day she ran a beauty parlor, selling perfume to
German soldiers; by night she helped shuttle airmen stranded in France
onto Allied ships.
On Dec. 1, 1943, a cold, moonless night, Mr. Quirk's protectors told him
to be ready. He and 31 others swam to an island where they found
rowboats that would take them to a British gunboat. The timing had to be
perfect.
"The boat I had had a hole in it," Mr. Quirk said in the newspaper
interview. As the gunboat neared, the rowboat capsized, hurling Mr.
Quirk into the sea. He grabbed for a rope thrown by a British sailor,
and was flipped onto the gunboat's deck. In all, 32 men were rescued
that night.
Mr. Quirk said in 2006 he was still felt grateful to the sailors who
saved his life. "These English sailors had a lot of courage to come that
close into German waters," he said.
Information smuggled out with his escape was instrumental in helping the Allies plan D-Day, his daughter Linda Kelly said.
"The French Underground would walk up and down the beach at Normandy and
pretend to be looking for something, but they were taking pictures and
measurements, and they smuggled that information out with my dad and the
others," Kelly said.
His experiences are documented in French and British history books, as
well as by the Pennsylvania Veterans History Project, and the U.S. Armed
Forces Escape and Evasion Society.
Mr. Quirk was born in Philadelphia, but lived in Collingdale and
graduated from Collingdale High School in 1939. He was an outstanding
scholar and athlete, winning state medals for track and field.
He served on Collingdale Borough Council for many years. He also served
on the Collingdale and Southeast Delco school boards. He helped
establish Delaware County Community College.
In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his wife of 67 years,
Sarah White Quirk, whom he met in high school; a son, George; another
daughter, Eileen Young; 10 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 27, at the Griffith
Funeral Chapel, 520 Chester Pike, Norwood. Visitation is from 9:30 to 11
a.m. at the chapel.
Burial with military honors will be in Arlington Cemetery, Drexel Hill.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Collingdale High School Alumni
Association Scholarship Fund, Box 1426, Collingdale, Pa. 19023.
Contact staff writer Bonnie L. Cook
at 610-313-8232 or bcook@phillynews.com. 