The Tunnel King: The True Story of Wally Floody and the Great Escape

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

While many adolescents have probably seen the 2000 Claymation movie
Chicken Run, likely not many realize that it borrowed heavily from a
1963 World War II film, The Great Escape. In turn, that Hollywood film
was based on a true event, the March 24–25, 1944, escape of 76 Allied
fliers from Stalag Luft III, a German POW camp. Most of the escapees
were recaptured, and 50 were executed by the Gestapo on Hitler’s
direct orders. Unknown to most Canadians is the significant role played
by a young Canadian fighter pilot, Wally Floody, in constructing the
tunnels that made the escape possible. His story is now superbly told in
this book.

Flight Lieutenant Floody, a Spitfire pilot, was shot down on October
27, 1941, during his second combat mission. He spent the rest of the war
as a prisoner of war. Floody’s prewar experience as a miner in the
gold mines of Northern Ontario, however, became invaluable in the
digging of the three escape tunnels at the camp. While Hehner focuses
principally on Floody’s war years, especially those spent as a POW,
she also gives readers a glimpse into his childhood and his postwar
years, including the technical advisory role he played in the making of
the movie. Numerous black-and-white photographs, drawings, a map, and a
glossary enrich this excitingly written true story of ingenuity and
courage. Highly recommended.