John G. Hoey Sr., a retired insurance salesman who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, died of heart failure Thursday at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 84.
Mr. Hoey, a longtime resident of Keswick Road in Roland Park, was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. After graduating from high school, he left Ireland for England, and enlisted in the RAF in 1938.
As a radio operator and bombardier, he made history when he was aboard one of the first planes to bomb Germany.
His first mission aboard a Wellington bomber occurred Sept. 3, 1939, three days after the German army overran Poland.
The target of the three Wellingtons that took off from Mildenhall Air Base in England was the German naval fleet anchored at Wilhelmshaven.
Some 97 missions later, Mr. Hoey found himself at Normandy on D-Day in an Avro Lancaster, protecting troops as they landed on the beaches.
"It wasn't spectacular, as far as I was concerned," he told the Baltimore Messenger, a weekly newspaper, in an interview last year. "It was just another raid."
For his wartime exploits, he was decorated with the RAF's Distinguished Flying Cross.
After the war, he remained in the RAF flying repatriated prisoners home and delivering relief supplies to Holland. He also flew a judge to the Nuremberg war crimes trial.
In the late 1940s, he emigrated to Canada and then Baltimore, where he has lived since 1951. He was an insurance salesman for Nationwide Insurance Co. before retiring in 1995.
Mr. Hoey was a member of the Paint & Powder Club and performed in many of its shows.
An avid golfer, he was a member of the Rolling Road Country Club.
His first marriage ended in divorce.
Mr. Hoey was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St., where a memorial service will be offered at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the chapel.
He is survived by his wife of 23 years, the former Annabela McShane; a son, John G. Hoey Jr. of Baltimore; three daughters, Patricia Kowitz, Gail Filerino and Linda Miller, all of Baltimore; two stepsons, Thomas McShane and Colegate McShane, both of Baltimore; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.