British 'great escape' pilot dies at 92

By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago


LONDON - A funeral service was held Thursday for Bertram "Jimmy" James, one of the few British prisoners to avoid being executed for joining in the "great escape" from a German prison in World War II.


James, who was 92, died Jan. 18 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in Shrewsbury, in central England, following a brief illness.
He was a pilot on a Wellington bomber that was shot down near Rotterdam in the Netherlands on June 5, 1940, and was captured the next day. Despite numerous attempts to escape, he spent five years as a prisoner of war.
Attempting to escape, he once remarked, "was our contribution to the war effort." He made 13 attempts from various prisons, according to military historian Howard Tuck.
James was sent to Stalag Luft III, near Zagan in Poland, in 1943.
Joining in plans for a mass escape, James was put in charge of dispersing some 40 tons of sand taken from one tunnel.
On the night of March 24, 1944, James was the 39th man to escape. He and a Greek companion made their railway station and caught a train headed toward the Czech border, but were recaptured two days later.
"When you emerge into the snow and you're running away from the camp, there's a sense of exhilaration," James told The Associated Press in 2004 during celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the escape.
"We were on our way, we hoped, to freedom," he added. "That wasn't quite the case."
All but three of the 76 escapers were recaptured, and 50 were shot.
The escape attempt from Stalag Luft III was one of the most celebrated incidents of the war, recounted in the film starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough.
"A lot was Hollywood fantasy. There were no Americans in the escape," James said.
After being caught, James was one of eight men sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside Berlin. He escaped from that prison in 1944 but was recaptured two weeks later.
He learned Russian during his imprisonment, and served in the diplomatic service from 1964-1975.
James is survived by his wife, Madge.

British 'great escape' pilot dies at 92 - Yahoo! News

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Thanks for giving us this notification. May he Rest in Peace.

From the story, I gather this is the man that they based James Garners character on in the movie?

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

A little more info on him,

WWII POW famous for escape attempts, dies


Jimmy James, a British WWII pilot famous for his attempts to escape German captivity has died at age 92.
James died Jan. 18, the BBC said.
He was captured by the Germans in 1940 when his plane was shot down over occupied Netherlands, The New York Times reported Thursday. By the time he was liberated in 1945, James had tried to escape at least 11 times. He had succeeded twice but was recaptured both times, the newspaper said.
I was just a guy who wanted to get home; I was no hero, he was quoted as saying in The Birmingham Post.
His best-known escape occurred in 1944, when 76 Allied prisoners tunneled out of Stalag Luft III. The breakout, depicted in the 1963 movie, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen, ended in the shooting deaths of 50 of the 73 men who were recaptured.

WWII POW famous for escape attempts, dies

__________________
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

James Garner played Anthony Hedley in the film..

"James Garner Flt Lt Anthony Hendley "The Scrounger" from wikipedia"

bf109 Emil

Hi Emil, thanks much for this information ;-))

Take care and best regards-Carl.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.