‘THE Great Escape’ was undertaken in 1944 and among those digging their way to freedom was Flight Lieutenant Jack Lyon, a former Launceston resident, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, writes Zoë Uglow.

Flt/Lt Lyon was a navigator in the RAF. Born in 1917, he joined up at the age of 21 when war broke out in 1939. During World War Two — in 1941 — he was onboard a bomber, which was carrying out a raid over Germany. The engine failed and much to the crew’s dismay they came down in the middle of what is now Poland.

Mr Lyon was taken to the prisoner-of-war (POW) camp ‘Stalag Luft III’ and was imprisoned there for three years.

In 1944 he, and 200 other POWs, participated in a daring attempt to tunnel their way to freedom — this later became the basis for the film ‘The Great Escape’.

The daring plan to escape saw the RAF prisoners work together under the leadership of Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, to dig three tunnels. Each tunnel was 30ft deep and were intended to run the 300ft distance into the woods just outside the camp. They later nicknamed these tunnels ‘Tom’, ‘Dick’ and ‘Harry’.

Each man took up a role, whether it was digging or, in Flt/Lt Lyon’s case, acting as ‘security officer’ to ensure the German guards did not cotton on to what the POWs were up to.

Unfortunately tunnel Tom was discovered in September 1943 just as it was about to reach the woods outside the camp. With Dick being used for storage the POWs’ hopes were pinned on Harry to see them to freedom.

The Post spoke to Mr Lyon’s nephew Jim Watling, who lives in Launceston with his wife Sylvia, to find out more about his uncle’s ‘great escape’.

Mr Watling said: “Uncle Jack used to live on Highfield Park Road in Launceston about 15 years ago. He still has many friends in the town.”

He explained that Mr Lyon had only recently started to open up about his experiences in World War Two. He said: “We had no idea he had been involved in the escape, it was never something he really spoke about. I think he probably started opening up because more of the survivors were passing away and there were fewer people left to tell the story.”

Speaking about Mr Lyon’s involvement with the film The Great Escape, Mr Watling said: “He has been a consultant on The Great Escape in recent years for documentaries but I don’t think he was involved with the film itself.

“It is quite amusing really, the only comment I remember him making about the film was that the main character is played by Steve McQueen, an American actor — well of course this amuses Uncle Jack because there were no Americans at the camp during the escape attempt. Although some American prisoners helped to dig the tunnels they were all moved to another camp a few weeks before the escape itself.”

During the war, the plane Mr Lyon had been serving on as a navigator was not shot down but suffered engine failure. Mr Watling said: “During a ceremony several years ago, uncle Jack was presented with a picture of the plane he was on. The people who had organised the event thought they were doing something really nice but in actual fact he hated that plane. He always said ‘that plane was useless because it broke down’.”

Mr Lyon faced things during the war that many people wouldn’t be able to imagine. Mr Watling told an oddly amusing story of how these experiences had affected his Uncle Jack and how he had reacted to being in a car accident some years ago.

“It is quite amusing actually. A few years ago uncle Jack was in a car accident in Eastborne. He was the passenger and all involved were fine but the car did flip over and land upside down on its roof.

“Uncle Jack was left hanging upside down, held in by his seatbelt. When the paramedics got to the scene they did the usual thing and went over all his vitals — heart rate, pulse etc — and much to their surprise he was steady, he had a completely regular heart rate.

“He then had to explain to them that after going down over Germany and parachuting out of a plane, hanging upside down in a car wasn’t a big deal, it was no great shakes to him.”

During the escape attempt 76 POWs made it out of the camp. Later 73 were recaptured and of those 50 were shot. Mr Watling said: “This was to discourage any further escape attempts — well it would work, wouldn’t it?”

Mr Watling explained that the prisoners decided amongst themselves the order of who should go through the tunnel first. He said: “They had a system in which people were sent into the tunnel in order of how helpful they had been to the cause. Uncle Jack had been a sort of ‘security officer’ in the great escape — it was his job to stop the Germans from finding out what they were up to.

“As it was he was 79th in line to go down the tunnel — he was about to go down the tunnel just as it was discovered.”

Mr Lyon had been found in Hut 104 just before he had his chance to escape. Mr Watling added: “If he had gone down any earlier it is likely he would have been shot.”

After the war Mr Lyon took a more gentle approach to life, becoming an accountant until he retired at the age of 55. Mr Watling said: “He always jokes that he has been a pensioner for more years than he has worked.”

Mr Lyon has also given several talks at various venues around the country regarding The Great Escape including the likes of Eton School.

Sylvia said Mr Lyon might even have a few more talks scheduled for later this year. Mr Watling added: “He isn’t going to slow down just because of his age. He still lives on his own, he is a very independent person. He travels up to London regularly on the train to attend RAF events and also walks a mile every day — just a few years ago he even went on a walking holiday in Switzerland.”

A birthday party was recently held for Mr Lyon, to celebrate his reaching 100 years, organised by Channel 4 and the RAF.

Mr Watling said: “I think he was really over awed by the whole experience. About 60 to 70 people turned up I think, it was a really good show. Uncle Jack was pleased because his sister had come over all the way from Italy and he had the whole family there right down to the great grandchildren.”

Mr Watling added: “I can safely say that uncle Jack was pleased with his card from the Queen. He has a very pragmatic view on life, and wouldn’t really think about being 100 but I think he is still surprised by all the fuss that was made.”