Volunteer, WWII Hero Alex Labadie Dies

A Huntington Beach man who worked behind enemy lines during World War II and more recently volunteered in the police crime labs of Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley died this week after heart surgery.

Alex Benjamin Labadie, 76, was an original member of Huntington Beach’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program in 1993, Police Lt. Dan Johnson said. He especially enjoyed delving into evidence analysis, and co-workers saw the retired aerospace engineer the day before he died. Labadie succumbed to a stroke during quadruple-bypass surgery Monday, Johnson said.

While serving in the Army during World War II, Labadie and three other men were dropped behind Japanese lines in China. For 10 months in jungles there and in Burma, they monitored troop movements and spied on bases and supply depots, all while hiding from the Japanese army.

After that, Labadie flew 400 missions guiding C-47 transport planes through a 20,000-foot Himalayan pass to supply U.S. and Chinese soldiers.

“Alex was a man who was committed to the service of others,” Johnson said. “Like many of his generation, Alex refused to consider himself a hero. They did great things, but to them it’s, ‘I was just doing my job.’ That spirit doesn’t exist today as much as it once did.”

Born in Foraker, Okla., Labadie was proud of his Osage Indian heritage, said his widow, Donna. His death came as a shock because he walked six miles a day and had the vitality of someone 20 years younger, she said.

Labadie is also survived by a daughter, Diana Wondergem of Camarillo; two stepdaughters, Kelly Neuman of Fullerton and Kristen Labadie of Huntington Beach, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Wilfrid’s Episcopal Church, 18631 Chapel Lane, Huntington Beach.