Free The Great Escape: A Canadian Story by Ted Barris Page B

librarian Karen Ball-Pyatt) for access to John Acheson’s memoirs; Kim and Kelly Crozier for access to their father John Crozier’s diaries; Sally and John Hutchinson for the gift of her father Bob Nelson’s writings; Harold Johnstone for granting access to John Colwell’s precise images and diary; Keith Ogilvie Jr. and Jean Ogilvie for photos of their father Keith “Skeets” Ogilvie; Ted Nurse for permission to refer to his account of his father Edward Nurse’s experience at Stalag Luft III; Marilyn Walton for assistance in obtainiing US Air Force Academy photos; and Don and Linda Jarrell for stories about Don’s father, John MacKinnon “Mac” Jarrell as a kriegie.
    Thanks to support and data (files and photographs) provided by Marek Lazarz and the volunteers at the Museum of Allied Forces Prisoners of War Martyrdom at Zagan, Poland.
    As well, a debt of gratitude to James Taylor, Parveen Kaur Sodhi, and Sally Richards at the Imperial War Museums in the UK for assistance in gaining access and rights to their Stalag Luft III photo archives. Also in the UK, my thanks to Andrew Dennis and Vinit Mehta at the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon for their help securing the rights to the Ley Kenyon sketches of The Great Escape.
    No one writes who doesn’t also read and recognize the previous work of fellow authors (specific references and permissions are contained in the endnotes). Among those key to my interpretation of this story are Paul Brickhill ( The Great Escape ), Kingsley Brown ( Bonds of Wire ), Robert Buckham ( Forced March to Freedom ), Patricia Burns ( They Were So Young ), Andrew Carswell ( Over the Wire ), H.P. Clark ( Wire Bound World ), Art Crighton ( Memories of a Prisoner of War ), Daniel G. Dancocks ( In Enemy Hands ), Ian Darling ( Amazing Airmen ), Don Edy ( Goon in the Block ), Hugh Godefroy ( Lucky Thirteen ), Philip Gray ( Ghosts of Targets Past ), John R. Harris ( Serving and Surviving ), George Harsh ( Lonesome Road ), John Hartnell-Beavis ( Final Flight ), Barbara Hehner ( The Tunnel King ), Stuart G. Hunt ( Twice Surreal ), Harold Johnstone ( John Colwell ), Phil Marchildon ( Ace ), Wayne Ralph ( Aces, Warriors and Wingmen ), Stuart E. Soward ( One Man’s War ), George Sweanor ( It’s All Penshionable Time ), Tyler Trafford ( Almost a Great Escape ), and Jonathan Vance ( A Gallant Company ).
    In various ways, but drawing on their unique expertise, I wish to thank Susan Hall for her wisdom about music; Dave Zink (who died in 2012) for his encyclopedic knowledge of war history and mil itaria; Barb and Stuart Blower for their assistance in restoring old photographs; Don Young for his sense of Canadian storytelling; and Marian Hebb for her legal acumen and commonsense approach to getting books from writers to readers.
    In terms of the special assistance of colleagues and friends in jour nalism, creative non-fiction writing, and publishing, I owe much to authors Malcolm Kelly and Byron Christopher, journalism professors Lindy Oughtred, Stephen Cogan, and Ellin Bessner, broadcaster Rick Cluff, publisher Marc Coté, and editor Don Loney. Special thanks to my neighbour, Navy veteran Ronnie Egan, for her homemade sand wiches that helped me maintain my daily writing quota. I thank my team of transcribers, Octavian Lacatusu and Michael Laing-Fraser. At Thomas Allen Publishers, I’m grateful to editors Janice Zawerbny and Linda Pruessen, to proofreader Ruth Chernia, to marketing team Krista Lynch and Catherine Whiteside, and to my favourite TAP triumvirate of David Glover, Bonita Mok, and Heather Goldberg. Special thanks to Beth Crane for making our photos sparkle. And as he has done for all of my TAP books, Gordon Robertson has contributed his exquisite visual sense to the design of this project.
    And the first shall be last: I thank my wife, Jayne MacAulay, who edits by profession, and thinks clearly by nature.
    —Ted Barris 2013

Introduction
    “HEROES RESURFACE”
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    A HEAD OF HIM in the distance,