The (real) Great Escape

Senlac Rotary Club were treated to a totally enthralling talk by a local, very sprightly 97 year old former POW, Jack Lyon.

Jack graphically explained how in 1941 he parachuted out of a blazing aircraft over Germany with the rest of his crew, only minutes before it exploded on the ground. He was imprisoned in Stalag Luft III, made famous by the film The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen. In 1943 when Jack was moved to the North Compound he discovered the tunnel and escape plans were well under way. Although he was one of 200 primed to escape, his number was never called to go through the tunnel because of a mix up with the numbering. So a narrow escape in more ways than one for Jack as only 3 finally escaped and of the 76 captured, 50 were shot under Hitlers orders. Jack lost many friends.

Rotarian Eddie McCall voiced the members extreme thanks to Jack for his amazing presentation and said how rare it was and how privileged we were to hear about such an important part of our history directly from someone who had actually lived through it.

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The Telegraph 

The RAF Benevolent fund