GUARD ELUDED

Southland Times, Issue 24546, 22 September 1941, Page 6

GUARD ELUDED

NEW ZEALAND PILOT’S ESCAPE (Special) HAMILTON, September 20. An interesting story of his internment and escape from Portugal is told by Sergeant-Pilot Gordon Kenneth Williams, in letters to his parents, Mr j and Mrs W. T. R. Williams, of Rototuna, Hamilton. In a letter written in Portugal on July 27, Sergeant Williams stated that he and two English youths were flying a new Blenheim bomber from England to the Middle East on July 17 when they were compelled to make a forced landing on the beach at Faro, on the south coast of Portugal. The machine was damaged, but none of the occupants was hurt. The crew was immediately taken prisoner by the local police and expected to be interned for the duration of the war. They were given a wonderful time, however, and always received the best of attention, although closely watched by policemen. In his second letter, written in England on August 29, Sergeant Williams said he was ready to “start all over again.” Referring to his internment and escape, he says: “It was a grand experience, and we saw a considerable amount of the country. Two days after we arrived at Figuera da Foz (a popular summer resort) a chap came to us and said he could get us out of the country if we could get rid of the police escort. He gave us a time and place to meet us and then left.

“On the day we had to meet the car we did not linger in the town, but walked for five and a half miles into the country. We sat among the pine trees and waited. The car arrived an hour late. We were getting prptty scared by this time. All we had were a lunch basket and a few personal effects. All that afternoon we travelled down to Lisbon. A couple of girls accompanied us in order to make us look like a picnic party. “That night we were smuggled on board a little tug and were taken out beyond the territorial waters, waiting for a ship to come and pick us up. The other two members of my bomber crew were seasick, and we went back to Lisbon. Some chaps took us to their homes and kept us under cover for the next three days. The next trip was successful, and a couple of days later we were at Gibraltar. As we passed the beach where we made the forced landing we saw the Blenheim sitting on the sand iust as we had left it. After two days at Gibraltar we returned to England with an escort of destroyers.”