Last of the 'Great Escapers' dies
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Last of the 'Great Escapers' dies
The last of the 'Great Escapers' has passed away. Shot down in 1940 and captured. Escaped from Stalag Luft III and then re-captured. Was lucky to have not been one of the fifty excecuted by the Gestapo on Hitler's orders possibly due to his name. Gave evidence to the RAF Special Investigation Branch who worked to bring the killers to justice.
RiP Sir.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/r...uary-p0jvl5cc7
RiP Sir.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/r...uary-p0jvl5cc7
They are going fast now. We owe them so much. They ask only to be remembered. We will.
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Interestingly SOE agents Captain Peter Churchill and Odette Hallowes, GC, who convinced the Gestapo that she was married to Capt Churchill, also probably escaped execution because they were being held as "bargaining chips" as it was falsely believed that he was related to Winston Churchill. Lucky name to have in WW2!
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Two of the three pilots who made a Great Escape ‘home run’ were Norwegians based at North Weald – Jens Müller from 331 Squadron and Per Bergsland from 332 Squadron. The third was Dutchman Bram van der Stok (41 Squadron).
Müller had been shot down on 19 June 1942 in Spitfire AR298, FN-N, off the Belgian coast, less than a month after his Squadron had moved to North Weald from Catterick. He spent 66 hours in a dinghy before capture. Bergsland was shot down during the disastrous Dieppe raid on 19 August in Spitfire AB269, AH-D. He gave his name as Peter Rockland to avoid any retaliation against his family who were still living in occupied Norway.
Two other Norwegians from North Weald were sadly among those executed – Halldor Espelid from 331 Squadron, who had been shot down by flak near Dunkirk on 27 August 1942 while flying Spitfire BL588, FN-A, and Nils Fuglesang from 332 Squadron. He was shot down over Holland on
2 May 1943 while flying Spitfire IX BS540, AH-E.
Espelid and Fuglesang got as far as Flensburg on the Danish border before they were arrested on a train and taken to Gestapo headquarters in Kiel. They were subsequently shot on the journey ‘back’ to Stalag Luft III.
Müller had been shot down on 19 June 1942 in Spitfire AR298, FN-N, off the Belgian coast, less than a month after his Squadron had moved to North Weald from Catterick. He spent 66 hours in a dinghy before capture. Bergsland was shot down during the disastrous Dieppe raid on 19 August in Spitfire AB269, AH-D. He gave his name as Peter Rockland to avoid any retaliation against his family who were still living in occupied Norway.
Two other Norwegians from North Weald were sadly among those executed – Halldor Espelid from 331 Squadron, who had been shot down by flak near Dunkirk on 27 August 1942 while flying Spitfire BL588, FN-A, and Nils Fuglesang from 332 Squadron. He was shot down over Holland on
2 May 1943 while flying Spitfire IX BS540, AH-E.
Espelid and Fuglesang got as far as Flensburg on the Danish border before they were arrested on a train and taken to Gestapo headquarters in Kiel. They were subsequently shot on the journey ‘back’ to Stalag Luft III.
