I notice that the film is on Channel 5 this afternoon. After many years of being derided, it has now become at last respected for the story it attempts to tell. Tomorrow (Monday) night marks the 70th anniversary of the real escape, following which 50 men were murdered. There is a scene in the film when all the lights go out because of an air raid. The night of 24/25 March also marks the last of the raids in what became known as the Battle of Berlin; it was this raid which actually interrupted the escape. 72 aircraft were lost and 392 airmen died. Next Sunday night will also see the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg raid which was to cost the lives of another 545 men and the RAF 96 aircraft. It was a bad time to be in bomber Command. When we park up for the night during the next week, it would be nice to think that some of us will reflect on what others were setting off to do so many years ago and upon the debt which we owe them.
The recent disappearance of Flight MH 370 has allowed us to appreciate grief of those who don’t know what happened to their family member. There are those who are still waiting to know 70 years later. There are over 20,000 names on the Runnymede Memorial to the missing.
My father took a friend of his fishing, and sat on a fence were pheasants, one ran out and he shouted to my dad, “Stop !!” my father stopped and off they went fishing.
A few hours later, his friend came over and started to talk about the war and what he had to do. Death etc.
It turns out he lived with a few others in a quarters the far side of the runway, and it was his job to remove the charred remains of the flight crew into body bags. He would not, could not accept the demise of any living creature.
There you go, somebody had to do it…RESPECT.
The Great Escape was a very well planned mass break out. The film is very good. I know the part where Steve McQueen as Hilts is riding the motorbike is fictional to the actual events, but I still enjoy watching that bit
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a bridge too far is also on later
The harsh reality is that the ‘duty to escape’ and treating the Geneva Convention selectively by the use of civilian clothing and forged civilian identity papers contributed to the deaths of those who were caught by the Gestapo in addition to putting civilian helpers at risk along the escape routes.Especially considering the favourable treatment of the stalag luft regime.
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