Warrant officer John Fancy
Posted on 10/03/2008 7:40:29 PM PDT by csvset
World War II tunnel digger John Fancy whose actions inspired the film the Great Escape, has died.
Just nine months after the beginning of hostilities in the WWII, the young and dashing RAF observer was shot down.
His Blenheim bomber had just successfully hit its target in the Ardennes when he came under heavy fire from German anti-aircraft positions on 14 May 1940. Within moments the aircraft had ditched.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Warrant officer John Fancy
WW2 ping
Irrepressible, I’d be proud to have that word in my eulogy, wait, no I’d be dead.
God love him and remember Sir Charles Upham from NZ, a two time awardee of the Victoria Cross.
RIP.
Mole? He looks more like Mr. Toad’s other old chum, Ratty.
Well done sir. Sleep now, rest finally in the arms of the Almighty.
R.I.P. mr. Fancy. the great escape was one of my favorite movies as a child. i think that i will rent it this weekend in tribute. (R.I.P. Steve McQueen as well)
Thank you for posting the obit.
Amazing fellow. I’m sure we have folks like him now. If we could just quit frigging around with political correctness and all that sort of rot, the good sorts would quickly re-emerge
Bump.
Personal note: In the early 1960s I met (as a colleague in a US multinational) a German ex-Luftwaffe pilot who had escaped several times from Allied camps. He once made it from Canada to NYC (before Pearl Harbor) before being recaptured and was rather well known in postwar Germany for his exploits.
Reminds me of the classic British war film, ‘The One That Got Away’, starring Hardy Kruger.
RIP to a REAL hero.
He was my grandad, a legend. I feel so lucky to have grown up with him as a young boy with him recounting his exploits. It brought WWII to life. I have both his books. They are quite rare now but it is possible to find them through Amazon etc. Not many of these guys left now.
WOW.
Yes, your grandad was a legend, a hero and a great man.
I notice that the last survivor of the sinking of the HMS Hood in 1941 (famously by the Bismarck) died on Friday at the age of 85.
‘The last known survivor of the German prisoner-of-war camp which inspired the film The Great Escape has died aged 87.
Wing Commander Tim Thomas, who was awarded an OBE and the Air Force Cross, had suffered a long illness at his home in Portugal. He was among hundreds of servicemen who spent 14 months digging three tunnels - Tom, Dick and Harry - under the fence at the high-security Stalag Luft III camp.
The PoWs’ escape in 1943 inspired the classic film two decades later starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough and Charles Bronson.
Although 76 escaped using Harry, only three made it to freedom from the German Air Force camp in Zagan, Poland. Another 50 were executed.
Mr Thomas was captured as he scrambled for the exit but persuaded guards to spare his life. He left the camp when it was liberated in 1945 and stayed in the RAF until 1967 before becoming a management consultant living in Croscombe.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1078662/Last-survivor-Great-Escape-camp-dies-87.html
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