Page 15 - issue05.04.2019

Royal Air Force News Friday, April 5, 2019 P15

News

Great Escape
News bulletin

remembered

UK and Poland mark 75th

anniversary of break-out

ONE OF the last surviving British
airmen held at the Nazi’s Stalag Luft
prisoner of war camp joined UK and
Polish air chiefs to mark the 75th
anniversary of the Great Escape.
Former prisoner Air Cdre
Guards foiled Charles Clarke accompanied Chief
of the Air Staff, Sir Stephen Hillier
lookout Jack’s and Polish military chief Lt Gen
Jaroslaw Mika for a wreath-laying
ceremony at the site of the camp.
Stalag escape tunnelled to freedom in March 1944.
More than 70 Allied airmen
All but three were recaptured and 50
GREAT ESCAPE veteran Jack were executed on Hitler’s orders.
Lyon died, aged 101, just weeks Royal Air Force personnel
before the 75th anniversary of the formed a guard of honour at the
world’s most famous prison break. nearby Poznan Cemetery, where 48 VIGIL: Serving RAF personnel at the Poznan Ceremony where 48 of the Great Escapers
He passed away at his home in of them are buried. executed on Hitler’s orders are buried. PHOTOS :SAC NICK EGAN
Bexhill-on-Sea in March. Among the serving personnel
Jack joined the RAF at 23 and present was Air Force policeman
flew with Bomber Command. Cpl Paddy Flint, a relative of escape
In 1941, his Whitley Mk5 struck mastermind Sqn Ldr Roger Bushell
flak just outside Dusseldorf and (inset) whose body is buried at the STALAG SURVIVOR: Air Cdre Charles
the aircraft crash landed nearby. site. Clarke was taken prisoner after his
All the crew survived and were Cpl Flint said: “It means a lot to Lancaster came down over Germany
taken prisoner to the Dulag Luft me to be here as it’s the first time of the intrepid adventurers who
PoW camp. I’ve ever seen his grave. sought to regain their freedom from
Flt Lt Lyon, a navigator, was “Seeing the names of all the here: their ingenuity, their daring and
transferred to the notorious Stalag escapers on the gravestones, their spirit.”
Luft III in September where he was especially Roger’s, was very More than 600 prisoners took
recruited as a ‘stooge’ or lookout emotional and really hit home.” part in the tunnel-building operation
for the Great Escape breakout bid. An RAF C130 Hercules from which lasted over 15 months and was
He was interviewed for the last Brize Norton performed led by Sqn Ldr Bushell.
time as part of a gala presentation a flypast over the site The anniversary tribute came too
of the film The Great Escape which accompanied by four late for Dick Churchill – the last of
was shown at a number of UK Polish Air Force F-16s. the 76 Allied airmen who escaped,
cinemas to mark the anniversary. Sir Stephen Hillier and who died in February aged 99.
RAF Benevolent Fund chief Air added: “Today we honour Fellow prisoner bomber navigator
Vice-Marshal David Murray said: the courage and sacrifice Jack Lyon who acted as a lookout
“Jack belonged to a generation of of those who were during the break out, died last
Servicemen we are sadly losing as imprisoned here month at the age of 101. escape attempt was uncovered. participated in the executions to justice.
time goes on. and lost their lives He was one of 200 The brutal execution of those who In an earlier interview Air Cdre
“His legacy and those of his trying to escape. prisoners lined up were recaptured led to the largest Clarke said: “The Great Escape was
brave comrades who planned and “But today is waiting to get out of British military police investigation in probably one of the most audacious
took part in the audacious Great also a celebration SQN LDR ROGER BUSHELL the tunnel before the history which brought 72 Nazis who operations the RAF carried out.”
Escape breakout are the freedoms
we enjoy today. tenacity and
“Their
about the values and bravery of Tim’s back in the saddle ICONIC: Tim Gibbes
determination spoke volumes
on the motorbike ridden
by McQueen, inset, in
the entire RAF, in helping to win the film
the fight against the Nazis. FORMER STUNTMAN Tim men crawled their way to freedom
“To truly pay tribute to his Gibbes, now 85, points out a dent through a 300-foot tunnel built
memory and all those who have he made, during a stunt, in the under the notorious prisoner of war
gone before him, we must never famous motorbike ridden by Steve camp, Stalag Luft III.
forget. McQueen in the iconic war film Historian Dan Snow and
“Jack’s death is especially The Great Escape. military historian Paul Beaver paid
poignant as it came just before Tim joined an audience at tribute to the men who took part in
the 75th anniversary of the Great London’s Hammersmith Apollo the breakout, and heard from Colin
Escape.” for a special gala screening of the Kirby-Green whose father and
film on the 75th anniversary of the step-father were involved.
■ See full obituary on p27 Great Escape, organised by the RAF There were also filmed
Benevolent Fund. interviews with RAF veterans Jack
●Go to: http://bit.ly/2J7Azwm to The commemoration took Lyon, Dick Churchill and Air Cdre
see Jack’s last recorded interview. place exactly 75 years after 76 Charles Clarke.