News
P.O.W. Who Helped To Inspire The Great Escape Movie Is Dead
SHREWSBURY, England — Jimmy James, a British flier and World War II prisoner of war who helped to inspire the breakout portrayed in the 1963 Steve McQueen movie The Great Escape, died here on January 18, according to the BBC. James was 92 and at work on a book about his experiences.
McQueen's motorcycle chase in The Great Escape is one of the most remembered action sequences in movie history. However, James called the action scene "rather Hollywood fantasy," according to The New York Times. The movie was based on the true story of Allied prisoners of war with a record of escaping from German prisoner-of -war camps.
James was "one of the last great links with a period of history that continues to exert a fierce grip on the popular imagination," said Britain's Independent newspaper. He was said to be "obsessed with escape plots" during his five years in German captivity. The most memorable escape occurred in 1944, when 76 Allied prisoners tunneled out of Stalag Luft III. James and another prisoner coordinated the hiding of soil displaced by tunnel digging. The escape ended in the recapture of 50 men who were shot on Hitler's orders; only three of the 76 made it to freedom. James was recaptured and sent to a German concentration camp, where he and other prisoners tunneled out by using a table knife.
What this means to you: Jimmy James may have never escaped from the Germans on a motorcycle, à la Steve McQueen, but he will go down in history as a true hero. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
McQueen's motorcycle chase in The Great Escape is one of the most remembered action sequences in movie history. However, James called the action scene "rather Hollywood fantasy," according to The New York Times. The movie was based on the true story of Allied prisoners of war with a record of escaping from German prisoner-of -war camps.
James was "one of the last great links with a period of history that continues to exert a fierce grip on the popular imagination," said Britain's Independent newspaper. He was said to be "obsessed with escape plots" during his five years in German captivity. The most memorable escape occurred in 1944, when 76 Allied prisoners tunneled out of Stalag Luft III. James and another prisoner coordinated the hiding of soil displaced by tunnel digging. The escape ended in the recapture of 50 men who were shot on Hitler's orders; only three of the 76 made it to freedom. James was recaptured and sent to a German concentration camp, where he and other prisoners tunneled out by using a table knife.
What this means to you: Jimmy James may have never escaped from the Germans on a motorcycle, à la Steve McQueen, but he will go down in history as a true hero. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
Add A Comment »