The Great Escape: A Canadian Story (38 page)

11.
“’round the perimeter”: Frank Sorensen letter to parents, May 8, 1943, courtesy of Vicki Sorensen.

12.
“taught a horse”: Frank Sorensen letter to parents, July 21, 1944, courtesy of Vicki Sorensen.

13.
“thesaurus dictionary”: Frank Sorensen letter to parents, May 18, 1943, courtesy of Vicki Sorensen.

14.
insurance company: Vance, p. 172.

15.
advance his studies: Linda Tweddell, correspondence with Vicki Sorensen, February 13, 2012.

16.
in political science: George Sweanor, interview Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 6, 2011.

17.
westerns and biographies: Durand, p. 227.

18.
“studying it though”: Frank Sorensen letter to parents, August 11, 1943, courtesy of Vicki Sorensen.

19.
“wood for shoring”: Floody interview, 1970.

20.
rusty gas cans: Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, p. 57.

21.
“tunnel as it was dug”: Bob Nelson, “Tom, Dick and Harry of Stalag Luft III” (unpublished manuscript, 1948, with permission).

22.
from the Germans: Vance, p. 125.

23.
“thirty feet underground”: Bob Nelson monologue on Great Escape, recorded by family, 1987.

24.
“a bit more cautious”: Floody interview, 1970.

25.
“trouser bags”: Peter Fanshawe quoted in Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, p. 52.

26.
hole in the ground: Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, p. 56.

27.
“repairs themselves”: Harold Johnstone, preface to unpublished diary of John Colwell, 2001, with permission, p. 2.

28.
“jump at 11 p.m.”: John Colwell, unpublished diary, April 3, 1943, with permission.

29.
“Room 14, Block 120”: Ibid., April 17, 1943.

30.
“they lost”: Ibid., June 17, 1943.

31.
“hair all cut off”: Ibid., June 20, 1943.

32.
“as a penguin”: Ibid., June 22, 1943.

33.
“what was going on”: John Colwell, quoted in Lynn Welburn, “A witness to the Great Escape,”
Harbour City Star
, May 17, 2001.

34.
“deaden the sound”: King interview, 2011.

35.
“a matter of minutes”: John Weir, quoted in “The Making of the Great Escape,” Prometheus Entertainment, 2007.

36.
“with us separated”: John Weir letter to Frances McCormack, April 30, 1943, with permission.

37.
any excess wiring: Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, p. 94.

38.
“South Compound is ready”: Alan Burgess,
The Longest Tunnel: The True Story of World War II’s Great Escape
(Grove Weidenfeld, New York, 1990), p. 45.

39.
“suspicions were aroused”: Nelson, unpublished manuscript, 1948.

40.
“very imperceptible”: Nelson monologue, 1987.

41.
“British are coming”: George Sweanor, notes on “The Great Escape—24 March 1944,” with permission.

42.
“huts with a band”: Colwell diary, July 1, 1943, with permission.

43.
“1 and 4 a.m.”: Ibid., July 13, 1943.

44.
“in turn and searched”: Ibid., July 15, 1943.

45.
“barbed wire used”: Ibid., July 24, 1943.

46.
“know fuck all”: Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, records the exchange with the expletive “damn,” p. 106; several kriegies, including Pengelly, Wallace, and Sweanor, report Pieber used the word “fuck,” making the exchange all the more ridiculous.

47.
“in Hut 101”: Colwell diary, August 21, 1943.

48.
“my soldering outfit”: Ibid., August 31. 1943.

49.
“to inspect it”: Nelson, 1948.

50.
“late Tom’s trap”: Ibid.

51.
“with the appendix”: Frank Sorensen, quoted in Plannthin.

52.
“the winter after this”: Frank Sorensen, letter to family, September 17, 1943, courtesy of Vicki Sorensen.

chapter six: “shysters and crooks and con men”

1.
“an only child”: Joan Sweanor interview, Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 5, 2011.

2.
“Who Wants War”: George Sweanor interview, July 5–7, 2011.

3.
“could walk her home”: George Sweanor, correspondence, February 6, 2013.

4.
“looks, poise, and figure”: Sweanor,
It’s All Pensionable Time:
25
Years in the
Royal Canadian Air Force
(self-published,
1967
, with permission),
p. 36.

5.
“life is so temporary”: Ibid.

6.
“the office at eight”: Joan Sweanor interview, 2011.

7.
“letter for me”: Arthur Morlidge, quoted in George Sweanor, p. 58.

8.
“delightfully foul weather”: Ibid., p. 75.

9.
“only military targets”: Ibid., p. 103.

10.
“get out of here”: George Sweanor interview, 2011.

11.
“last ticket home”: Ibid.

12.
“not coming home”: Joan Sweanor interview, 2011.

13.
“E for Edward”: Sweanor,
It’s All Pensionable Time
, p. 120.

14.
“nerves could relax”: George Sweanor, notes on “The Great Escape—24 March 1944,” with permission.

15.
German-English dictionary: Ibid., p. 107.

16.
“years of our wives”: Shag Rees, quoted by George Sweanor in
It’s All Pensionable Time
, p. 121.

17.
“worthy of his sacrifice”: Sweanor, p. 112.

18.
“mark me down”: Hermann Glemnitz, quoted by George Sweanor in
It’s All
Pensionable Time
, p. 133.

19.
“the workman’s tools”: Nelson.

20.
inside tunnel Harry: Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, p. 135.

21.
“Luftwaffe ferrets”: Nelson.

22.
“by the prisoners”: von Lindeiner, reference in “Sagan,” Royal Air Force Special Investigation Branch report, Report No: WCIU/LDC/1460, JAG Ref: MD/JAG/FS/22/2(2a) War Crimes Interrogation Unit, London, December 1946, p. 17.

23.
“impression in the camp”: Ibid., p. 17.

24.
“very severe penalties”: von Lindeiner, quoted by John E. (Willy) Williams in Ibid., p. 21.

25.
appropriate documentation: Durand, p. 291.

26.
Group of Seven: Ken MacQueen, “A Brutal March: Wartime diaries record a trek of 10,000 POWs,”
Maclean’s
, January 13, 2003, p. 48.

27.
“and I did”: Robert Buckham, quoted in Ibid.

28.
the library Bibles: Durand, p. 291.

29.
“morning to night”: Frank Sorensen, letter home, June 26, 1943, courtesy of Vicki Sorensen.

30.
“an empty belly”: Robert Buckham, diary excerpt quoted in Op cit.

31.
the violin case: Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, p. 122.

32.
“some coffee home”: Pengelly, “X for Escape.”

33.
“he believed necessary”: Ibid.

34.
“than in a prison camp”: Don MacDonald, quoted in Dancocks, p. 112.

35.
“orders I don’t like”: Sweanor, p. 142.

36.
panel for stage lighting: H. P. Clark,
Wire Bound World
(self-published, 1946), p. 13.

37.
“announcing the play”: Don Edy interview, London, Ontario, March 6, 2012.

38.
Mena House resort hotel: Don Edy,
Goon in the Block
(self-published, 1948, with permission), p. 52.

39.
garter snake in its place: Ibid., p. 14–15.

40.
“Padula boys, Hey, Hey.”: Ibid., p. 95.

41.
“an immediate depression”: Ibid., p. 57.

42.
“got to him first”: Ibid., p. 130.

43.
a coffee percolator: Ibid., p. 140.

44.
“to see the shows”: Ibid., p. 136

45.
recorded for posterity: George McKiel, quoted in Doug Pricer, “Survivor of the Great Escape,”
Military History
, May 2005, p. 30.

46.
“out of kriegieland”: Sweanor,
It’s All Pensionable Time
, p. 141.

47.
grease-paint makeup: Durand, p. 243.

48.
“create feminine characters”: Edy, Op cit., p. 161.

49.
“people doing everything”: King interview, 2011.

50.
“walk and talk like a woman”: McKiel, quoted in Pricer, p. 30.

51.
“Second World War in drag”: Rick Cluff interview, Vancouver, B.C., May 25, 2012.

52.
Red Cross parcels: Durand, p. 77.

53.
“organization could use”: Pengelly, “X for Escape.”

54.
“along the same route”: Ibid.

chapter seven: the play’s the thing

1.
“couple of years ago”: Art Ross, quoted in Brian McFarlane,
Stanley Cup Fever:
100
Years of Hockey Greatness
(Toronto, Stoddart, 1992), p. 97.

2.
men left to play: Kenesaw Mountain Landis, quoted in
Time Capsule
(Time-Life, 1943), p. 138.

3.
“their team over”: Art Hawtin interview, Beaverton, Ontario, January 8, 2011.

4.
“landed safely”: Ibid.

5.
married men against bachelors: John E. Dreifort, “Anything but Ordinary: POW Sports in a Barbed Wire World,”
Journal of Sport History
, Vol. 34, No. 3, Fall 2007, p. 420.

6.
“struck out sixteen batters”: Hawtin interview, 2011.

7.
“fourteen to one”: Ibid.

8.
“let them hit, Bill”: Harold Garland, quoted in Dancock, p. 101.

9.
leather boot enthusiastically: Durand, p. 248.

10.
“panes are broken”: Art Hawtin, “Grandpa’s Wartime Album: Memories Surrounding the Great Escape” (unpublished diary prepared by Janet Hawtin, with permission).

11.
“shot him dead”: Phil Marchildon with Brian Kendall,
Ace Phil Marchildon,
Canada’s Pitching Sensation and Wartime Hero
(New York, Viking, 1993), p. 138.

12.
“over the wire”: Frank Sorensen, letter home, June 15, 1944, courtesy of Vicki Sorensen.

13.
author Kaj Munk: family letter to Frank Sorensen, March 10, 1944, courtesy of Vicki Sorensen.

14.
“the Tin Man”: Hawtin interview, 2011.

15.
“a master tinker”: Ibid.

16.
“two fire bricks”: John Colwell diary diagrams, September 26, 1944, with permission.

17.
“and cooking utensils”: card contained in John Colwell’s diary, with permission.

18.
“in Stalag Luft III”: Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, p. 129.

19.
“itching to be home”: John Weir, letter to Frances McCormack, October 31, 1943, with permission.

20.
“a friendless room”: Albert Wallace, correspondence, March 15, 2013.

21.
“didn’t realize”: Albert Wallace, interview, Toronto, January 5, 2011.

22.
“extremely security conscious”: Ibid.

23.
“our new chimney”: Ibid.

24.
“Your brother, Wally”: Wally Floody, postcard to Catherine Floody, January 26, 1944, with permission.

25.
“before roll call”: Hawtin diary.

26.
“and out went the sand”: Wallace interview, 2011.

27.
theatre’s crawl space: Harold Johnstone, “More Memories of Stalag III Days,” additional notes to John Colwell’s diary, 2001, with permission.

28.
“twelve tons of sand”: Pengelly, “X for Escape.”

29.
“a severe shock”: Hartnell-Beavis, p. 36.

30.
disappear in seconds: Brickhill,
The Great Escape
, p. 140.

31.
“all kinds of weather”: John R. Harris,
Serving and Surviving: An Airman’s
Memoirs
, self-published, 2004, with permission, p. 117.

32.
“Germans blitzing England”: John R. Harris, interview, London, Ontario, March 6, 2012.

33.
“out of the kite”: Harris,
Serving and Surviving
, p. 71.

34.
RCAF Blues tunic: John Crozier, memoir in
Aircrew Memories: The Collected World War II and later memories of members of the Aircrew Association, Vancouver Island Branch, Victoria, B.C.
(Victoria Publishing Co., 1999), p. 88.

35.
“where he’d come from”: Harris interview, March 6, 2012.

36.
“and he apologized”: Ibid.

37.
“I was shot down”: Ibid.

38.
bottoms of their boots: Dreifort, p. 425.

39.
“a lot of work”: Davidson.

40.
sticks simply ran out: Dreifort, p. 426.

41.
him and his crew: Vance, p. 47.

42.
“sooner than expected”: George Wiley, quoted in Vance, p. 210.

43.
“before he got back”: Floody interview, 1989.

44.
camp at Belaria: Sweanor, p. 156.

45.
“a tunnel digger”: Floody interview, 1989.

46.
gassed or shot: “Sagan,” Royal Air Force Special Investigation Branch report, Report No: WCIU/LDC/1460, JAG Ref: MD/JAG/FS/22/2(2a) War Crimes Interrogation Unit, London, December 1946, p. 67.

47.
and 69 lamps: Johnstone.

48.
and Tony Pengelly: H. P. Clark,
Wire Bound World
, self-published, 1946, p. 32.

49.
“in it, or who”: Pengelly, “X for Escape.”

50.
about two hundred: Alan Burgess,
The Longest Tunnel: The True Story of World War II’s Great Escape
(Grove Weidenfeld, New York, 1990), p. 124.

51.
“number ninety-three”: Pengelly, “X for Escape.”

chapter eight: “through adversity to the stars”

1.
“prisoner of war”: Pengelly, “X for Escape.”