Aussie "Great Escaper" dies

[pies4ever]

Aussie great escaper dies
February 13, 2008

THE last Australian survivor of World War II's most famous prison break saga is set to join his comrades after his death in Melbourne.

Bill Fordyce, 93, was the last man into the PoW camp tunnel in the "great escape", which became a book and a Hollywood blockbuster starring Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.

But the young RAAF flight lieutenant counted himself lucky to have never made it outside Luft Stalag III on the night of March 24, through to 5am on March 25, 1944.

Fifty of the 76 Allied PoWs in the mass escape were seized by the Gestapo after their recapture and executed on the orders of an angry Adolf Hitler.

That included three Australians, but Mr Fordyce was balloted No. 86 for the daring venture and sent as last man just before dawn, after many delays.

He never made it to the end of the cramped, 120m tunnel that ran just outside the camp's fence

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23203887-2862,00.html