Thaindian News

Jack Harrison, the last survivor of the ‘Great Escape’ plot has died. He was 97 years old. Harrison died on Friday, at Erskine veterans in Bishopton, Scotland. His family confirmed the news of his death on Monday.

Harrison was part of the Royal Air force. He was a pilot and but he was unfortunate enough to be shot down in 1942, by the German military. He survived the crash, but was captured by the enemy forces and sent to Stalag Luft III. The flight was Harrison’s first flight, as a pilot of the Royal Air Force.

While in jail, Harrison was part of the prisoners who planned an escape from the prison. During the actual prison break, only 77 prisoners were able to break free, before guards detected the jailbreak. Harrison was the 98th to escape in the plan, but he could not actually escape, because of the guards had detected that the prisoners were trying to escape.

All the 77 escapees except 3 were recaptured and fifty of them were executed on the orders of Adolf Hitler. Another 23 were returned to the prison custody. The story of the attempted escape was retold in the movie “The Great Escape”.