Tales of a great escaper - Ken Rees

'We'd nearly got to the shaft when I heard a shot. Everything stopped.'

Often quoted as the model for the Steve McQueen character in the The Great Escape, by age 21 Ken had already trained to be a pilot officer; flown 56 hair-raising bomber missions; taken part in the siege of Malta; got married; been shot down into a remote Norwegian lake; and been captured, interrogated and sent to Stalag Luft III. It was here that Rees took part in and survived the Great Escape. This is his remarkable story of capture, courage and camaraderie in the face of terrible danger. This is the story of the three tunnels.

This is what really happened.