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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art World War Two Veteran Signatures United States Surname A  Ash, William |
[UP] - Adams, Milton - Adrianse, Lyle - Aines, Howard - Alcorn, Lavern - Allen, Bill - Allen, Luke - Altman, Robert - Ames, Roger - Ananian, Stephen - Anderson, Bill - Anderson, C - Ardery, Philip - Arreola, Albert - Arthur, Robert - Ash, William - Asmussen, John - Atwood, Lee |
Flight Lieutenant William Tex Ash
Volunteer American pilot Bill Ash joined the RCAF and flew Spitfires with 411 Squadron gaining 3 confirmed victories. Shot down in 1942 he became a POW and was sent to Stalag Luft III where he took part in 'The Great Escape', and later was involved in more than a dozen escape attempts from POW camps in Poland, Germany and Lithuania. A constant trouble maker to his captors, Bill Ash became a real life 'Cooler King' after many hours spent in solitary captivity.
| Flight Lieutenant William Tex Ash - Signed Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
The Great Escape by Richard Taylor. Everyone here in this room is living on borrowed time. By rights we should all be dead! The only reason that God allowed us this extra ration of life is so we can make life hell from the Hun.. ... three bloody deep, bloody long tunnels will be dug - Tom, Dick and Harry. On will succeed! With those words the chief escape officer in Stalag Luft III, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell RAF, announced his plan for perhaps the most daring escape attempt of the war - the mass break-out of 200 men through the digging of three long tunnels - nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry - an audacious feat of tunneling that would be long and dangerous. Tom was discovered by the Germans and destroyed. Dick was abandoned. The escape would fall on Harry, and just after 22.00hrs on the night of 24th / 25th March 1944, the first escapee broke through to the surface - only to find it well short of the surrounding trees. The escapees would have to crawl to the cover of the trees under the noses of the patrolling sentries. It was obvious that not everyone would have time to get away. 76 men had made their escape when at 04.55 the escape was finally discovered by the guards. As shots rang out, those already in the trees began running for their lives. Of the escapees, three would make it home to the UK, the rest were recaptured. And of those, sadly 50 were executed by the Gestapo, but The Great Escape was already immortalised in history. |
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