German cancer victim wanted to taste Penang's durian ice cream one last time A faithful wife and her fellow Malaysians are saying a sad goodbye to the German they love - an 87-year-old second world war naval officer who is dying of lung cancer in a West Australian hospital. Willi Hans Boehm arrived in Japanese-ruled Malaya in 1943 as a German naval officer assigned to help the Japanese build a submarine base on Penang Island. He fell in love with Penang Island and a local Eurasian Chinese nurse, Agnes Vaz. But after the war, he was held prisoner in Singapore before leaving for a devastated Germany. In 1946, he managed to return to Penang and find and marry Agnes, whom he first met when he caught malaria and she nursed him back to health. After they married the couple moved to Germany, but returned five years later and spent many years living in Penang. They had six children and migrated to Perth in Western Australia but returned often to their beloved Penang. Willi has cancer and doctors say he has a week or two to live. Agnes, 81, is constantly by his side. 'My father loved Penang so much because he met his true love on that enchanting island,' Willi's son, Perth accountant Willi Goya, 49, said in an e-mail message to Malaysians. 'His dying wish was to have the Penang flag draped over his coffin and taste a durian ice cream one last time.' The dying Willi has won the hearts of Malaysians, who have flown a flag of Penang and two buckets of his favourite durian ice cream, made by the famous Kek Seng restaurant in Penang, to his bedside. 'He wanted to return to Penang and feel the sea breeze on his face for a last time, but he is too sick to move,' said Mr Goya who first contacted The Star newspaper for help. The newspaper soon had Malaysians, especially people in Penang who remember Willi and Agnes, eager to help. Tan Gaik Nooi, 75, the widow of the former owner of Kek Seng restaurant, personally made the durian ice cream for Willi. 'We are touched that Willi remembers our ice cream,' she said. 'I hope the smell brings back to Willi old memories of Penang.' Yusuf Jalil, like many ordinary Malaysians moved by stories of the couple's past and Willi's impending death, sent an e-mail saying: 'I hope and pray you find peace and fulfilment.'
