Tributes paid to Great Escape hero
ÊÊ
DAVE GOODERHAM
TRIBUTES have been paid to an airman dubbed one of the country's greatest war heroes whose daring attempt to flee a concentration camp was immortalised in classic film The Great Escape.
Former RAF Honington regiment officer Jimmy James attempted to escape an estimated 13 times during the Second World War - claiming it was his duty to not just accept life as a prisoner of war.
His attempt at digging a tunnel out of a Nazi prison camp in Poland was recreated in the classic war film and friends yesterday described him as a Òreal life heroÓ at his funeral.
The military service paid tribute to his links with Suffolk with current servicemen from RAF Honington acting as pallbearers and ushers.
And his links with the famous film, which starred Steve McQueen, were also touched upon with the theme tune playing as mourners left the church.
Mick Liston, spokesman for RAF Honington, said: ÒJimmy Jones was a hero in the best traditions of the Royal Air Force. He considered it his duty to attempt to escape at every opportunity.
ÒToday we have airmen who are faced with difficult circumstances and still display the same ethic and sense of duty as Jimmy did in times gone by.Ó
Squadron Leader James was the 39th man to escape through the 365ft long tunnel from the prisoner of war camp during the Second World War.
The daring attempt was ultimately thwarted by the Gestapo who then killed 50 of the 76 escapees. Sqn Leader James was recaptured 10 days later.
Yesterday, tributes were paid to the RAF veteran at his military funeral in Ludlow, Shropshire, after he died earlier this month, aged 92, following a short illness.
Military historian Howard Tuck, from Cambridge, who was working on a book with Sqn Ldr James, has described him as Òthe country's greatest living war heroÓ.
His friend, David Blakeway Smith, paid tribute to the war hero's bravery, recalling how he told the registrar that they should list his occupation as ÒescaperÓ on the death certificate.
ÒThe idea of escape dominated the whole five years of his captivity,Ó Mr Blakeway Smith said. ÒJimmy is the only real life hero and the single most remarkable person I have ever met.Ó
The funeral concluded with the Last Post was before four planes from RAF Marham flew past in tribute to the veteran.
Sqn Ldr James was captured and transferred to Stalag Luft III prison camp, in Poland, after his plane was shot down in Rotterdam in June 1940.
He was in charge of the earth disposal for the tunnelling in the infamous escape. But that was not the end of Sqn Ldr James' quest for freedom - he tried another escape bid from a concentration camp in Berlin and attempted 13 escapes overall.
He once said it was his duty as an officer to keep attempting daring escape bids to continue fighting in the war.
The veteran, married to Madge for more than 60 years, then found a Ònew purpose in life'Ó by giving talks to schools, squadrons and other groups about his and his comrades' experiences.
He later became president of Project 104, which aimed to build a replica of the hut from which the famous tunnel in The Great Escape began, and also published his memoirs Moonless Nights.
© 2008 Archant Regional Ltd., UK
AP Obituary
Bertram James
LONDON (AP) Ñ Bertram "Jimmy" James, one of the few British prisoners to avoid being executed for joining in the "great escape" from a German prison in World War II, died Jan. 18. He was 92.
James died at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in Shrewsbury, in central England, following a brief illness. A funeral was held Thursday.
He was a pilot on a Wellington bomber that was shot down near Rotterdam in the Netherlands on June 5, 1940, and was captured the next day. Despite attempts to escape, he spent five years as a prisoner of war.
Attempting to escape, he once remarked, "was our contribution to the war effort." He made 13 attempts from various prisons, according to military historian Howard Tuck.
James was sent to Stalag Luft III, near Zagan in Poland, in 1943.
Joining in plans for a mass escape, James was put in charge of dispersing some 40 tons of sand taken from one tunnel.
On the night of March 24, 1944, James was the 39th man to escape. He and a Greek companion made their railway station and caught a train headed toward the Czech border, but were recaptured two days later.