Great escape tunnel george

[Jon Skagfeld]

Fascinating!

It has always irked me about the "Great Escapers" being portrayed as predominantly American...when there apparently were no Americans involved in neither the planning nor the actual escape.

Ahhh...Hollywood.

[Marc Montgomery]

I have to agree with Jon..while there were apparently some US servicemen at the camp they were not involved and did not participate. Several Canadians however were critical to the tunnel, not the least of which was Wally Floody.

http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/...r/clips/16646/

Now, I liked the McQueen flic..but really kinda like another US movie about the US capture of Enigma which was a fallacy from start to finish, so much so that it ended up angering Britain so much it was brought up in Parliament.

sad thing is, so little Canadian history is taught in Canadian schools, (only 4 provinces require history classes) that most Canadians know virtually nothing about their history, and what they do know of - history- sadly comes of US movies like the great escape, that enigma movie, Pvt Ryan etc... sigh..

[Little Jo]

Originally Posted by Marc Montgomery

I have to agree with Jon..while there were apparently some US servicemen at the camp they were not involved and did not participate. Several Canadians however were critical to the tunnel, not the least of which was Wally Floody.

http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/...r/clips/16646/

Now, I liked the McQueen flic..but really kinda like another US movie about the US capture of Enigma which was a fallacy from start to finish, so much so that it ended up angering Britain so much it was brought up in Parliament.

sad thing is, so little Canadian history is taught in Canadian schools, (only 4 provinces require history classes) that most Canadians know virtually nothing about their history, and what they do know of - history- sadly comes of US movies like the great escape, that enigma movie, Pvt Ryan etc... sigh..

Hi Marc

A very interesting interview with Wally Floody, I note it was done in 1980 and wonder if there are any survivors left. Thank you for posting it. I agree that the movies take a lot of poetic licence when making movies.

Cheers

Tony

[r.morrison]

Tony: We may be in luck and have one of the tunnelers still alive here in British Columbia. I can't recall his name at the moment, but one of our members interviewed him a couple of years ago. He has the interview on tape, just has to dig it out. He is a Canuck and was slated to escape that night, however the alarm went off and he barely got back to his hut. Accordingly, he had the choice of being shot in the tunnel hut or being shot trying to get back to his hut. He chose the later and barely made it!

I can follow up on this story as soon as I get the info. Stay tuned.

Robert
Canadian Military Remembrance Society

[Little Jo]

Originally Posted by r.morrison

Tony: We may be in luck and have one of the tunnelers still alive here in British Columbia. I can't recall his name at the moment, but one of our members interviewed him a couple of years ago. He has the interview on tape, just has to dig it out. He is a Canuck and was slated to escape that night, however the alarm went off and he barely got back to his hut. Accordingly, he had the choice of being shot in the tunnel hut or being shot trying to get back to his hut. He chose the later and barely made it!

I can follow up on this story as soon as I get the info. Stay tuned.

Robert
Canadian Military Remembrance Society

Hi Robert

I shall surely stay tuned and I agree, interesting stories should be documented before it is too late because once the survivors pass on we have lost another chance of recording that piece of history forever.

Cheers

Tony

[Ed Storey]

Here is an obit for one who just recently passed away.

[r.morrison]

Thanks Ed for the update. There were probably many people involved, if not most of the camp, in this escape. One of my close friends here in Vancouver is a fellow by the name of Anthony "Tony" Cowling. Tony was captured at the fall of Singapore and spent 4 and half years in a Japanese POW Camp. He wrote his autobiography entitled "My life With The Samurai". Can't tell you if the books on line or whether you can buy it at any book stores, but a fascinating book to read from a boy of 17 years of age, when captured. If any of the forum members would like to purchase a copy, I can arrange it, at cost.
The ironic part of this story was that Tonie's brother was shot down over Germany and ended up at Stalag Luft 111 POW Camp and partook in being a " Penguin" in the digging of the tunnels.
As Tony says from "Down Under", all is lost if our generation doesn't record and keep the history alive.
An interesting note on Tony Cowling.... during the time I've known Tony, I've tried to help him out marketing his book, even bought a couple of dozen books and sent off copies for Christmas prezzies, only to be complimented by friends, family and military buffs. I've helped him build and accent his display and made sure he got prominent display in any event we were involved in.
There was a point when I took him for lunch in Richmond BC and as he asked for, we ended up at a Thai Restaurant. At that point, I was ready to eat the arse out of skunk....I was so hungry!
Rather than ordering a selection of dishes of various delights, as would of being my choice, Tony opted for a small bowl of rice and a extremely small bowl of condiments....and that was Lunch! Chopsticks and all.

And to watch this man.... carefully and so cautiously eat this tiny bowl of rice....and I,m talking Tiny, just made me realize what this guy had gone through and who bears that scar till this day.

I know I've digressed from the original topic of this discussion, but because of Tony and his brother, I'd thought I'd share this with the Forum Members. Robert Morrison ( Canadian Military Remembrance Society )