Tunnel King

by Barbara Hehner

The Great Escape was the most daring and meticulously planned prisoner-of-war breakout of the Second World War. Yet not many Canadians-least of all children-know the heroic story of Wally Floody, a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0006394779
• ISBN13: 9780006394778
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: HarperTrophy
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 2.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Biographical View of Events Before, During, and After the Great Escape

This book describes the life of "tunnel king" Wally Floody, including his prewar days as a young Canadian mine worker, and his becoming a combat aviator, only to get shot down over France, in late 1941, on only his second combat mission. The Germans sent him to Dulag Luft, then Stalag Luft I, and finally Stalag Luft III, where he played a leading role in the construction of Tom, Dick, and Harry. Shortly before the completion of tunnel Harry, he was unexpectedly transferred to another camp (Belaria) several miles away, and thus missed the Great Escape itself, very probably saving his life. He was evacuated, in harsh winter weather, in January 1945, finding himself south of Berlin. The Red Army, in effect, kept him and other western POWs hostage, in exchange for anti-Communist Russians. Eventually, he was freed. This book contains sketches that have originally appeared in Brickhill's THE GREAT ESCAPE. Others, however, apparently never were published before. Owing to the fact that 50 of the recaptured 73 airmen had been shot by the Germans, Floody at first viewed the escape as an unmitigated tragedy, and wanted to put it behind him. However, as the postwar fame of the escape grew, he spoke about it more and more. Eventually, he became a consultant to the early-1960's film, THE GREAT ESCAPE, providing corrective details on camp life, the tunnels, the tunneling process, etc. Notwithstanding the fictionalization of parts of the movie (e. g., the Virgil Hilts' (Steve McQueen's) motorcycle escapade), he reportedly enjoyed the final product. There were several postwar reunions of the Great Escape veterans. One of them occurred in 1970 in Toronto, and included the leading German ferret Glemnitz, who had been notoriously successful in uncovering escape attempts in Stalag Luft III. They joked with each other. (p. 151). Floody said that he knew nothing about any tunnels, and Glemnitz replied that Floody could now tell him the truth because Glemnitz couldn't send him into the cooler anymore. Wally Floody died in late 1989. Owing to the fact that the 50 murdered airmen never got funerals, he requested that no funeral be given him either.