The Remarkable Journey of Bill McEwan

My uncle, Bill McEwan, wrote a privately published memoir of his highly varied career in WWII ('A Walk With Giants' 1995 Air Forces Publishing Service).

He grew up in Dumbarton, Scotland, and joined the army just before September 1939. He was trained initially as a mobile anti-aircraft gunner, was evacuated from the mole at Dunkirk, and subsequently joined the RAF. There he trained as a Spitfire pilot and took part in raiding operations ('rhubarbs') over France attacking targets of opportunity. During one of these, he got separated from his comrades and was picked up by German fighters while striving to make it safely across the English Channel. He managed to bail out of his crippled aircraft and ended up in his dinghy trying to paddle to England. The tide took him to the French coast where he was captured. He was imprisoned in several POW camps including Stalag Luft Three, and eventually finished the war in Stalag Luft 6 at Heydekrug, East Prussia. Just ahead of the advancing Russians, the whole camp was moved in cold wintery weather. Partly by railway cattle trucks but also a considerable distance walking, the 10,000 prisoners travelled all the way across the North German plain through Poland and into Germany where he was liberated. This appalling trek, and the tremendous leadership shown by Dixie Deans, is described in 'The Last Escape' (Penguin 2003, by John Nichol and Tony Rennell). It's an amazing story told in a very downbeat way, typical of that generation of Scots.