DIGGING THEIR WAY TO FREEDOM

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 27

DIGGING THEIR WAY TO FREEDOM

Six men who played an all-important part in one of the spectacular exploits of the war are being sought to attend a reunion dinner in London on July 23, says the "Daily Telegraph and Morning Post." , They are the orderlies who helped 29 officers in German captivity to tunnel their way to freedom from. the Holzminden concentration camp on July 24, 1918. The digging of the tunnel took many "weary month*; The officers of the Holzminden are easier to find than the orderlies, because their names are known. Ten are living in England, and the addresses of most of. the others who. survive have been found. Of the 29 officers who escaped 20 years ago but of the 150 yards,long tunnel, 17 reached England within a few weeks. The others were recaptured. The man first out of the tunnel, Mr. W. E. Butler, interviewed in his Hoiburn office, said that the reunion would inot be complete without the orderlies, the real heroes of the exploit, who ran considerable risks. "I saw one of them, named Collinsori, driving a taxi in Birmingham some years ago, but I lost touch with him," Mr. Butler said, "I hope he comes along." "Of the others, one is with a tobacco company somewhere in Newfoundland; another is an insurance broker in New York; and a third was last heard of in Hong Kong. "We can never forget the trouble we had to escape. Armed with a bread-

knife I dug at the end of the tunnel. Earth, crumbled away,, and I became smothered in dirt. "At last I, got a glimpse of the stars, and I wriggled out into a bean patch. We donned home-made German uniforms, and after hiding by day and walking by night we reached the Dutch frontier. "Air-Commodore Rathborne, who spoke fluent German, went to the local railway station and bought tickets to Holland. He. did not forget to send a postcard to the prison commander. "To. avoid detection, only ten men actually took part in the tunnelling, although there were 600 officers and 30 men in the camp. The tunnel was dug with crude tools under the foundations of one of the buildings." Mr. L. James Bennett, a member of the R.A.F. Club, asked all who took part in the escape to communicate with him at the R.A.F. Club, 128 Piccadilly, Wl. They include: Captain Bousfield, Hong Kong; Colonel D. B. Gray, Indian Cavalry (retired), living in England; Messrs. Clouston and Grace, Newfoundland; Lieutenant Churchill, R.A.F.; Captain F. W. Mardock (late R.A.F.), now in Rio de Janeiro; Captain McLeod, frpm a Highland regiment; Captain Smith, Dublin; Lieutenant Campbell-Martin, Indian regiment (attached to R.A.F.); Captain Purves, from Tasmania; Captains Sharp, Luscombe, and Leggatt, attached to the R.A.F.; Messrs. Lyon (Australian), Morris, Paddison, and Robertson (Canadian).