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Last survivor of the Great Escape, Dick Churchill, dies aged 99
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17435999.last-survivor-of-the-great-escape-dick-churchill-dies-aged-99/
The last survivor of the Great Escape has died - aged 99.
Bomber pilot Richard 'Dick' Churchill, a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III, believed he escaped execution because he shared the Prime Minister’s surname.
He died on Wednesday, February 13.
Dick was among the 76 who crawled through tunnels in March 1944 in a bid for freedom.
Only three escaped while 50 were rounded up and shot on Hitler’s direct orders.
Dick, who adopted the identity of a Romanian and spent two nights on the run from 50,000 German policemen, thousands of members of the Hitler Youth and elite squads of the SS.
He and comrade Bob Nelson, who pretended to be Swedish, were found by farmers cowering in a barn.
They were the 50th and 51st of the 76 Allied airmen to escape from the high-security camp in the German province of Lower Silesia, 100 miles south-east of Berlin.
The last survivor of the Great Escape has died - aged 99.
Bomber pilot Richard 'Dick' Churchill, a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III, believed he escaped execution because he shared the Prime Minister’s surname.
He died on Wednesday, February 13.
Dick was among the 76 who crawled through tunnels in March 1944 in a bid for freedom.
Only three escaped while 50 were rounded up and shot on Hitler’s direct orders.
Dick, who adopted the identity of a Romanian and spent two nights on the run from 50,000 German policemen, thousands of members of the Hitler Youth and elite squads of the SS.
He and comrade Bob Nelson, who pretended to be Swedish, were found by farmers cowering in a barn.
They were the 50th and 51st of the 76 Allied airmen to escape from the high-security camp in the German province of Lower Silesia, 100 miles south-east of Berlin.
Cross gently, Sir!
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