Werner Wolfgang Heubeck (24 October 1923 – 19 October 2009)Ulsterbus' Werner Heubeck dies
UTV, 19 October 2009. was a German–British transport executive who was managing director of the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

transport companies

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink (Northern Ireland), Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transpor ...

and Citybus.

Early life and military service

Heubeck was born in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, Germany in 1923, the son of an engineer in the city's gas works. In 1942, aged 19, he was a member of the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...

, and was

conscripted Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

into the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

as a soldier and engineer in the Hermann Göring division. He was initially posted to anti-invasion duties in western France, then moved to Italy, before being assigned to the

Afrika Korps The German Africa Corps (, ; DAK), commonly known as Afrika Korps, was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its Africa ...

in the last stages of the

North African Campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...

. The transport ships carrying Heubeck to Africa were attacked by air and sunk from the African coast. Heubeck swam to

Cap Bon Cape Bon ("Good Cape"), also known as Res et-Teib (), Shrīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli, is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia. Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as Res ed-Der, and known in ant ...

, also managing to rescue some of his colleagues, of whom 60 of 550 survived the attack.Werner Heubeck, Ulsterbus chief who carried live bombs off buses, dies at age of 85
''

The Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its ed ...

'', 20 October 2009.

Post-World War II

Captured shortly after reaching

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, Heubeck was sent to the United States on the last

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

convoy to a POW camp at

Fort Polk Fort Polk, formerly Fort Johnson, is a United States Army installation located in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, about 10 miles (15 km) east of Leesville and 30 miles (50 km) north of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish. Named after New Yo ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. He was repatriated in 1946, and returned to Nuremberg to rebuild his family home. After a brief period working for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, Heubeck obtained work as a translator and

proof-reader Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place corre ...

at the

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

held in his home town. It was at the Nuremberg Trials that Heubeck met his future wife, Monica, a Welsh translator who had worked at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

during the war. Despite Heubeck's German heritage and military service, he and Monica gained permission to marry and settle in the UK, which they did in 1949.Face of Belfast buses passes away
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', 20 October 2009. Heubeck was

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

as a

British citizen The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and Nor ...

in 1954, at the time he was described as a "Development Assistant" and was living in Govilon,

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...

, Wales.

Ulsterbus and Citybus

In 1957, Heubeck was working for Alex Pirie & Sons, a paper mill in Aberdeen. In 1967, he noticed an advertisement for the position of managing director for buses in

, and successfully applied for the job, preparing for the interview by taking a day trip to Ulster and speaking to the bus manager in Aberdeen. The Ulster Transport Authority (UTA), as it was then known, had been making serious losses, and in 1967, Heubeck headed up a major revamping of the bus side of the organisation, which was rebranded as

. Staffing was cut, including the phasing out of conductors, and timetables were rescheduled. He succeeded in running Ulsterbus and Citybus profitably at a time when conventional wisdom said that public transport could never be run profitably. Unlike many managers at the time he eschewed ostentation—sharing the services of a secretary with his Chief Engineer, keeping filing to a minimum and carrying this emphasis on economic working throughout the organisation. In addition, Heubeck's tenure at Ulsterbus coincided with the height of

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

in Northern Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s, with public transport being a prime target of the

Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

's bombing campaign. Heubeck was well known at the time for personally boarding buses and removing bombs himself to keep the buses running to schedule.

Retirement

Heubeck retired in 1988, after 23 years at Ulsterbus. He moved to near the village of Gleno in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

where he produced handmade artefacts and furniture for local churches. He later moved to

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

where one of his three sons (Martin Heubeck) worked as an

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. Heubeck died on 19 October 2009, aged 85, a month after the death of his wife Monica. He had been living with cancer for several years.

Honours

Heubeck was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the 1977

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...

. In the Birthday Honours of 1988, the year of his retirement from Ulsterbus, he was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heubeck, Werner 1923 births 2009 deaths British public transport executives German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Military personnel from Nuremberg German emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Hitler Youth members Luftwaffe personnel of World War II Shipwreck survivors