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Great Escape tunneller Eric Dowling dies aged 92
Times On Line ^ | Aug 7,, 2008 | Simon de Bruxelles

Posted on 08/07/2008 2:52:17 PM PDT by mware

Eric “Digger” Dowling, who forged passports, made maps and helped to dig the one tunnel that the Germans did not discover before the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III, has died, aged 92.

On March 24, 1944, 250 prisoners lined up to await their turn to crawl through the tunnel to freedom. Many of them were equipped with documents that had been forged by Mr Dowling, who learnt to speak five languages fluently during his three years in the prison.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: greatescape; obituary; thedigger; veteran; wwii
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I believe Charles Bronson played the role as The Digger in the movie.
1 posted on 08/07/2008 2:52:17 PM PDT by mware
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To: mware
k ] I believe Charles Bronson played the role as The Digger in the movie.

Impossible. Bronson's character was hardly fluent in one language.

2 posted on 08/07/2008 2:56:41 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: mware

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ieaYqW9FcA


3 posted on 08/07/2008 2:56:44 PM PDT by nesnah (Expression with an attitude - www.polistic.com)
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To: mware

Sad to hear.


4 posted on 08/07/2008 2:56:50 PM PDT by Red6 (Come and take it.)
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To: mware

5 posted on 08/07/2008 2:57:25 PM PDT by JennysCool (A man who served his country well vs. a walking Che poster. Is it really that tough a choice?)
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To: skeeter

Holy typecasting, Batman, that’s a real zinger!


6 posted on 08/07/2008 2:58:47 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (College kid: "Do you have a minute for Obama?" NVA: "Not now or ever.")
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To: nesnah
Interesting note. Donald Pleasant was an actual POW during World War II.
7 posted on 08/07/2008 2:59:23 PM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E. That spells free. freerepublic.com baby)
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To: mware

Donald Pleasance played the man responsible for the forging.


8 posted on 08/07/2008 3:00:26 PM PDT by Publius (Another Republican for Obama -- NOT!!)
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To: skeeter
Yeah the rest of the article mentions that Dowlings was not happy with some of the liberties they took in making the movie.

It did have a bloody good musical score.

9 posted on 08/07/2008 3:00:55 PM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E. That spells free. freerepublic.com baby)
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To: mware

Actually, I believe his name was Donald Pleasence. But, then again, I am just being unpleasant....


10 posted on 08/07/2008 3:01:18 PM PDT by nesnah (Expression with an attitude - www.polistic.com)
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To: Publius

Steve McQueen ... Capt. Hilts “The Cooler King”

James Garner ... Flight Lt. Hendley “The Scrounger”

Richard Attenborough ... Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett “Big X”
James Donald ... Group Capt. Ramsey “The SBO”

Charles Bronson ... Flight Lt. Danny Velinski “The Tunnel King”

Donald Pleasence ... Flight Lt. Colin Blythe “The Forger”

James Coburn ... Flying Officer Louis Sedgwick “The Manufacturer”
Hannes Messemer ... Col. von Luger
David McCallum ... Lt. Cmdr. Eric Ashley-Pitt “Dispersal”
Gordon Jackson ... Flight Lt. Sandy MacDonald “Intelligence”
John Leyton ... Flight Lt. William Dickes “The Tunneler”
Angus Lennie ... Flying Officer Archibald Ives “The Mole”
Nigel Stock ... Flight Lt. Denys Cavendish “The Surveyor”
Robert Graf ... Werner ‘The Ferret’
Jud Taylor ... Goff


11 posted on 08/07/2008 3:03:04 PM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E. That spells free. freerepublic.com baby)
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To: mware

Aw...too bad. The Great Escape was a terrific book. What those guys had to go through!


12 posted on 08/07/2008 3:04:24 PM PDT by Twotone
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To: mware

13 posted on 08/07/2008 3:06:02 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.)
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To: nesnah

79 men got out. Three were caught at the mouth of the tunnel, 50 were murdered at various times and places, and three made it. Of the remaining 23, not all were returned to Stalag Luft III. These escaped: Bergsland, Muller, van der Stok. These were caught at the mouth of the tunnel: Langlois, Reavell-Carter, Trent. These were recaptured and survived: Armstrong, Bethell, Brodrick, Cameron, Churchill, Day, Dodge, Dowse, Dvorak, Green, James, Marshall, McDonald, Neely, Nelson, Ogilvie, Plunkett, Poynter, Royle, Shand, Thompson, Tonder, van Wymeersch.


14 posted on 08/07/2008 3:06:33 PM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E. That spells free. freerepublic.com baby)
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To: mware

I’m sorry he didn’t like it, but it was a movie not a documentary. I loved it (but I was a huge Steve McQueen fan).
susie


15 posted on 08/07/2008 3:07:40 PM PDT by brytlea (Obama--Jimmy Carter's Second Term)
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To: Publius

Donald Pleasence had actually been a World War II prisoner of war. When he kindly offered advice to the film’s director John Sturges, he was politely asked to keep his “opinions” to himself. Later, when another star from the film informed John Sturges that Pleasence had actually been a RAF Officer in a World War II German POW Stalag camp, Sturges requested his technical advice and input on historical accuracy from that point forward.


16 posted on 08/07/2008 3:09:28 PM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E. That spells free. freerepublic.com baby)
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To: mware

I read the book when I was twelve.

Dowling hated the movie. The biggest problem of course, was that us Yanks did not get to participate, having been moved to a separate camp earlier. I recall that recent History Channel special when they actually dug up the site and exposed the tunnel path before covering it back up. The digging conditions were absolutely hellish.

My favorite scene in the book was when our heros hoarded their raisin and sugar rations from their Red Cross parcels for little experimental home-brewing in preparation for a Guy Fawkes day blowout. It’s been thirty years since I read it but the occasion was sufficiently memorable that the ranking officers decided that the effort should not be repeated in the interest of discipline...


17 posted on 08/07/2008 3:09:35 PM PDT by sinanju
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To: mware

It sounds as though “Digger” had a long life after he was freed. He deserved it. God bless him. RIP.


18 posted on 08/07/2008 3:10:11 PM PDT by surely_you_jest ( Obamarrhoids are a pain in the ass . . . .)
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To: brytlea
More Great Escape trivia.

During production, Charles Bronson met and fell in love with David McCallum's wife, Jill Ireland, and he jokingly told McCallum he was going to steal her away from him. In 1967, Ireland and McCallum divorced, and she married Bronson.

19 posted on 08/07/2008 3:10:47 PM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E. That spells free. freerepublic.com baby)
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To: mware

“In a related story, director Spike Lee criticized John Sturges for filming “The Great Escape” with no African American characters.....”


20 posted on 08/07/2008 3:11:10 PM PDT by TexasNative2000 (Is this tagline governed by McCain-Feingold?)
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