A WAR veteran who became a renowned speaker has died.

Fred Shaw Maltas, 90, was laid to rest on April 12.

He was the eldest child of Percy Maltas, a joiner and funeral director, and Eleanor, a head teacher, and was brought up in Liversedge.

He attended Hightown National School and Batley Technical School before starting work in the family business.

After the Second World War, Mr Maltas worked for a total of 24 years as an engineering inspector at David Brown Gears, Huddersfield, where his work was highly skilled and he was responsible for inspecting gears for Sea King helicopters.

One of his proudest achievements was to serve with RAF 35 Squadron as Flight Engineer in a Halifax Bomber with the elite Pathfinder Force.

Their role was to spearhead raids to pinpoint enemy targets during RAF missions. After several bombing raids, Fred’s aircraft was shot down on June 22, 1943, near Castenray in Holland. He bailed out and parachuted to safety but after several days on the run Fred was captured and spent two years as a POW in prison camps in Thorun, Hyderkrug and Fallingbostel, where he assisted with many escape attempts, before being liberated.

His liberation along with other POWs in Germany became known as The Long March to Freedom.

For saving his life by using his parachute he was made a member of The Caterpillar Club and presented with a certificate and caterpillar badge by parachute makers Irving Air Chute.

Fred attended Pathfinder Reunions at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. A number of years ago he was reunited with his New Zealander pilot who he had last seen when they bailed out from the burning Halifax.

They spoke on the phone every year on the anniversary of their plane being shot down. Sadly Bill Hickson, the pilot, died last year.

Fred’s wartime ordeal, which involved many near misses when flying, appalling prison camp conditions and the loss of friends and colleagues, made Fred the optimistic, resilient and humorous character known to many.

He was also a well known public speaker in West Yorkshire where he spoke to various clubs and societies, many in the Huddersfield area.

He was a member of Cleckheaton Probus Club, Spen Valley Society of St George, S. Andrew’s Alzheimer’s Support Group, and a founder member of Spen Valley 41 Club.

His main talks were Hark To Rover, about pub and inn signs, which were of great interest to him, and The Finest Medicine, an amusing talk in which he displayed his renowned sense of humour. His most popular, however, was For You The War Is Over, a title taken from a remark made by a German arresting officer when Fred was taken prisoner during World War II.

He was a widower, having lost his wife Norah, and leaves two daughters, two sons-in-law, a grandson and a brother.