Bohuslav Jurek was born in Czechoslovakia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the village of Vranova, Moravia.
He served with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, as a fitter/armourer in 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron and was likely repatriated when the Squadron disbanded in 1946. In 1948 an election, which might not have been entirely democratic, aligned Czechoslovakia with the USSR. With communist control from Moscow, Czech citizens who had served with the forces of foreign countries became suspected of spying for those countries and were generally distrusted by the Moscow-backed authorities.
Bohuslav Jurek came to New Zealand in 1949. He died in Cherry Farm, Dunedin's mental hospital, in 1970.
Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin. DCC photo.
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