Last survivor of breakout from POW camp immortalised in The Great Escape
Squadron Leader Dick Churchill, who has died aged 99, was the last survivor of the ‘‘Great Escape’’ from Stalag Luft III. From the time he was shot down and captured in September 1940, escape was never far from his thoughts.
He was transferred to Stalag Luft III in April 1942. It was the Luftwaffe’s showcase prison camp for air force officers and NCOS in western Poland.
In 1943 three men successfully escaped from a tunnel built under a portable wooden vaulting horse. Churchill and his fellow Pows had spent many hours jumping over it and carrying it each day to and from the compound, where it was placed over a concealed tunnel entrance. He was involved in the disposal of the soil.
By March 1944, Stalag Luft III had developed into a complex of five compounds holding almost 5000 prisoners. About 1500 occupied the North Compound, including ‘‘X Organisation’’, the escape committee under South African-born Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, which had been digging three tunnels – Tom, Dick and Harry.
Tunnel Tom was discovered by the Germans in September 1943. There was a pause in the work, after which it was decided that Dick was no longer tenable. It was used instead to store equipment and sand from Harry once it reopened in January 1944.
Harry was finished on March 14, when it was decided that only 200 of the 600 who had worked on the project would be able to get out on the night. The first 30 were hand-picked by the escape committee.
Churchill teamed up with Flight Lieutenant Gordon Kidder, a multilingual Canadian. They had spent almost a year learning Romanian, intending to escape as Romanian woodcutters. They ‘‘became very proficient indeed’’ in the language, Churchill recalled.
At the last minute, however, Bushell decided Kidder should travel with Squadron Leader Tom Kirby-green, a senior member of the committee. This left Churchill without a partner, and he teamed up with Flight Lieutenant Bob Nelson. Had he stayed with Kidder, he would have been a priority escaper and number 17 or 18 out of the tunnel, but he now dropped to 48.
On the night of March 24 the escapers gathered and waited for the tunnel engineers to break open Harry’s exit. But from that moment the escape went badly awry. The tunnel emerged just short of the woods which would have given vital cover, and blockages from collapses in the roof caused delays.
The exodus did not get under way until 90 minutes later than planned. Only 20 had made their getaway by midnight, when the entire area blacked out owing to an RAF raid. When at last his and Nelson’s turn came there was another roof-fall and they had to wait. Once out, their progress in sub-zero temperatures was slow, and after two days they took refuge in a hayloft. They were captured on the third morning, only 12 miles from the camp.
They were taken with other recaptured escapees to the police station, and later to jail. There were soon more than 30 in custody. The next day they were taken away one by one for Gestapo interrogation.
When Churchill’s turn came he noticed ‘‘a menacing air in the way the questions were put’’. He was not directly threatened, but he was made to understand that ‘‘things were very serious’’. Not for the first time during his captivity he was asked what his relationship was to Winston Churchill. He was no relation but replied that he was required only to give his name, rank and number. Rather to his surprise, they did not press the point. He always wondered if his name had saved him.
Finally, on April 6, Churchill, Nelson and six others were returned to Stalag Luft III. Many of the others had been ‘‘shot while resisting arrest or attempting further escape after arrest’’. Of the 76 who had escaped, after a year’s planning, only three made it back to England: two Norwegians and a Dutchman.
Richard Sydney Albion Churchill was born in Surrey, and joined the RAF at 18, in August 1938. He was shot down near Maastricht in September 1940, killing two of his crew.
With the return of the survivors to Stalag Luft III, all escaping activities were halted. As the Soviet Army advanced from the East, the camp was emptied at a few hours’ notice in late January 1945, and the Pows were forced to march westwards in midwinter. The British First Army liberated them near Luebeck on May 2 and, over the next two weeks, they were flown back to England.
Churchill left the RAF in 1946 and entered business, initially working for Gillette before a career with Holts motor products and later with Dunlop, where his linguistic skills were put to use as export director.
In 1963 he attended the premiere of The Great Escape. ‘‘It was a great film,’’ he told the producer, ‘‘but it was a long way from the truth.’’ The producer replied: ‘‘That’s the film world.’’
He married his wife Patricia in 1950; she died in 2013. Their two sons survive him. –