Sad loss - obit for "the cooler king"

[sburke]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11068888/Wing-Commander-Ken-Rees-obituary.html

Wing Commander Ken Rees, who has died aged 93, was the last surviving member of the digging team that constructed the tunnel used during the “Great Escape” from Stalag Luft III in March 1944.

Rees was the pilot of a Wellington bomber shot down in flames over Norway during a mine-laying operation in October 1942. He managed to crash-land into a lake and scramble ashore where he and two of his colleagues were soon captured — the other two members of his crew lost their lives. After interrogation, Rees soon found himself at Stalag Luft III at Sagan in Silesia, a camp specially built for captured airmen.

A gregarious, high-spirited, and at times irreverent young man (he was 21 years old at the time of his capture), Rees was a restless and troublesome prisoner, always baiting his captors and he regularly found himself in the “cooler” — the punishment block. When Hollywood filmed the escape from Stalag Luft III many drew parallels between Rees and the character of Hilts, the “Cooler King” played by Steve McQueen. “It’s always said that he was based on me,” said Rees late in life, “apart from him being a 6ft tall American and me a Welshman of about 4ft 3in who can’t ride a motorbike.”

[John Kettler]

sburke,

Thanks much for this. Was unaware of the actual basis for Steve McQueen's unforgettable character, let alone his historically significant passing.

Regards,

John Kettler

[jon_j_rambo]

Danny the Tunnel Rat and the villain from James Bond movie are my favorites. Thought the book was fiction?