HENRY WILLIAM LAMOND
Died Jan. 15, 2010.
Wing Commander Henry William Lamond of New Zealand was one of three men who escaped from the supposedly escape-proof Stalag Luft III in 1942 by digging a tunnel, depositing the sand behind them and breathing through air holes punched in the soil above them. They made it to the woods, but unfortunately, were captured a week later.
Hermann Goering boasted that this prison of war camp near Sagan, Poland, for Allied airmen was escape-proof. This did not please him.
It was even worse two years later when Commander Lamond served as the dispatcher to regulate prisoners escaping during the Great Escape on March 24, 1944. Three tunnels were dug. After the 86th prisoner went into the tunnel, they were discovered. seventy-six actually got out, but later, an angry Hitler had fifty executed after capture.
In January 1945, the camp was evacuated as the Soviets closed in and the men forced to endure harsh conditions until they were freed near Lubcik.
Quite a Hero.
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