As well as being an actor for 60 years he also served in the war..not so commonly known..
He was a kind compassionate human and I admired him immensley.
Tingwell was a WWII pilot and was sent to the Middle East, completing 75 operational flights in Spitfires and Mosquito aircraft as a photographic reconnaissance pilot.
"Anzac Day is complicated for me," he explained.
"I had a very close friend, Frank who was killed in the war flying over targets with bombs.
"Four or five years after the war ended, I was comparing on a radio show and I was told that there was someone to see me and it was my friend's mother.
"She told me that Frank's body was never returned to her and that changed my whole attitude - I kept thinking how many families didn't have loved ones to bury and I have not walked in an Anzac Day parade since."
He used to attend an Anzac Day dinner with those who returned from WWII.
"There are very few of us left and now we have to have it at lunchtime," he laughed.
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/st ... 29,00.html
