Occupation troops for a birthday present
Jaroslav Jochec was born on August 21, 1946. His father, Josef, enlisted in the 42nd Infantry Regiment in Agda during the Second World War, then served as a pilot in Great Britain, in the position of rear bomber gunner. Due to an injury, Josef had to leave the air force and worked in the militia in London. Here he met his future wife Aneta Irena Apicelová, Jaroslav‘s mother. In 1943, their son André was born in Britain, Jaroslav was born three years later in Czechoslovakia. After returning home and after 1948, Jaroslav‘s father was imprisoned and sent to work in the Jáchymov mines. He was later forced to join the Communist Party due to his family situation. In 1952, Jaroslav entered a municipal school, then graduated from a vocational school, followed by two years of compulsory military service. At that time, in 1966, brother André went with his mother to visit relatives in England, but the brother refused to return. He did so a little later and the regime subsequently confiscated his passport for one year. In 1969, Jaroslav received permission to visit relatives in Belgium. In 1989, for example, he participated in a demonstration on the Letenská plain. After the Velvet Revolution, he worked for seven years in Germany near Dresden. In 2022, he lived in Novosedlice in Ústeck.