The Quiet Heroism of John Everard Binnie DFM (35 pages)

35 Page PDF File - John Everard Binnie, the author’s 1st cousin, 2x removed, was a pilot in World War II. Due to the mortality rate of Royal Air Force pilots, this was literally a death sentence. Inevitably, he was shot down, but unlike so many, he survived the experience and was captured by the Germans. So began a story of survival, parts of which were dramatised in the 1963 film, ‘The Great Escape’. John was incarcerated in a total of four Nazi concentration camps, including Stalag Luft III, where the events the film was based on actually took place. John’s story did not end there and he was one of the prisoners who was marched out of the camp in January 1945 into freezing wintery conditions. This march took the lives of many more men than did the camps. John was eventually liberated and returned to Australia where he trained to become a medical doctor, an occupation he pursued for the remainder of his life.