211386 F/Lt. Errol Edward Green Royal Australian Air Force 7 Sqd. from:Maclean, NSW Australia My Dad Errol
Green was a a cane farmer before
the war and but became a Bomber Pilot with 7 Squadron at Oakington. In a group portrait of members of the RAAF at RCAF Station Uplands taken after the men received their wings, identified, seventh from the left is Flight Lieutenant Errol Edward Green RAAF, who was a pilot attached to No. 7 Squadron RAF. His Stirling aircraft N3754 was shot down by a German night fighter whilst on a mission to bomb Bremen on the night of 25/26 June 1942. Four of his crew were killed in the air crash. The other three crew members became prisoners of war of the Germans. He was later captured at Bentheim and sent to Dulag Luft Frankfurt on the 1st of July 1942. and spent nearly three years as a POW, with most time spent in Stalag Luft III. He participated in preparations for escape by dispersing soil taken from the tunnel, but was moved on to another camp by the Germans before the escape took place on the night of 24/25 March 1944. He was in Stalag 3A from 5th of February 1945 to 22nd of April 1945.He was in Stalag 3A from 5th of February 1945 to 22nd of April 1945. Errol was involved in the long, forced march (87km) by foot to Spremberg in at times -25deg during the 8days, then 24 km by cattle truck to Luckenwald where he spent the next 3 months until the Russian forces approached, and the Nazi guards fled camp on 22nd April 1945. Fl Lt Green at that confusing timeframe Errol escaped captivity with some other prisoners into the fleeing refugee masses and was picked up and fed by the American army. Fl Lt Green and his fellow escapees were able to board a plane bound for Britain, arriving a few weeks before VE-Day. In his General Questionnaire on departing the Air Force on 18th of May 1945 he reported that the Germans failed to supply medical treatment, required for the good health of POWs. I would love to know if anyone remembers my Dad perhaps in the prison camp?
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