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Last soldier of 'The Great Escape' dies at 92
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
May 7th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
May 7th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
An elderly grandfather believed to be the last survivor of "The Great
Escape" prisoner-of-war camp has died at the age of 92. RAF serviceman
Richard Birtle was captured during the trial run for the D-Day landings
in Dieppe, France, in August 1942 before being imprisoned in the
notorious Stalag III camp.
More than 600 prisoners were involved in the construction of three tunnels - code named Tom, Dick and Harry, at the camp in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Zagan in Poland, 100 miles southeast of Berlin.
Tom and Dick had to be abandoned with Harry becoming the focus of their escape route. Only 200 of the higher ranking captives, those who could speak German and had put a lot of work into digging the tunnels, would have time to escape in the plan.
Since Birtle was not an officer, he would not be one of the prisoners to escape -- but he still helped construct the tunnels nonetheless.
A series of problems on the night of the escape on March 24 1944, including the Harry tunnel coming up short and in close proximity to a guard tower, meant that only 76 prisoners had time to escape.
The 77th man to exit the tunnel was spotted by a guard alerting the rest of the camp and 73 of the escaped prisoners were captured, with 50 later being executed.
The plot became the inspiration behind the classic war film "The Great Escape" starring Hollywood legend Steve McQueen.
Birtle, a grandfather of two only narrowly escaped an SS death squad himself before being liberated by American troops on April 29. 1945 after three years being held captive in the camp.
Birtle later said that a line of fellow prisoners were shot in front of him and their skin was horrifically "used to make lamp shades."
Birtle suffered a heart attack in March and was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, in Margate, Kent, where he suffered another fatal heart attack on April 5.
His 64-year-old daughter Veronica Lithgow paid tribute to her "brave" and "loving" father.
"He was a wonderful man who was very kind and extremely generous," Lithgow said.
"He had to endure some real hardship throughout the war and I suppose it is a bit of a miracle that he managed to make it to such a ripe old age.
"He was in the camp for three years - the Luftwaffe actually got on with the POWs and treated them well.
"But at some point the SS took over and they brought with them a much more brutal regime.
"My dad was pretty terrified and they divided the men into two lines before sending them off in different directions.
"One group was shot dead but my dad was in the other line and thankfully allowed to live.
"It was a brutal place - he said the skin of the dead soldiers was made into lampshades," Lithgow said.
"As he was not an officer, he was not allowed to escape but he certainly helped as much as he could."
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