193 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca SANGSTER, Edward M. WWII Edward was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan in 1916. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force Special Reserve and served overseas in Germany during World War II. He was appointed the rank of Pilot Officer by HRH King George VI on June 18, 1941 in the Royal Canadian Air Force. On October 27, 1941, he was reported missing as a result of a parachute descent. On November 22, 1941, the Red Cross reported his being captured and was in a Prisoner of War camp. In January 1942, he was confirmed to be a Prisoner of War in Stalag Luft III. He was later to be renowned for the “Great Escape” for which Edward participated in the tunnel development. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion South Osborne Branch 252 and Killarney Branch 109 for 35 years, receiving the 25, 30 and 35-year pins. Edward passed away in 1989. The following is an essay written by Edward Sangster’s grandson Adam Coates while he was in the sixth grade. The Great Escape A few weeks ago my mom came home from my grandmother’s place. She had a very special book of my Grandfather’s called “The Great Escape”. When it came time to pick a topic for my speech I thought about the book, and the movie which I had watched this past summer, and how I would like to learn more about the Great Escape. When allied aircrew were shot down duringWorldWar II they were interrogated and then sent to an Air Force Prisoner of War camps run by Luftwaffe (or Germans). My grandfather was one of the men shot down, and was sent to Stalag III. It was located at Sagan, 100 miles south of Berlin. This was the scene of the Great Escape. The conditions at the camp were strict, but bearable. However, if it were not for the Red Cross food parcels, food would have been a serious problem. German rations allowed only one half of the recommended calorie intake. Because the guards were not that much better off than the prisoners, food wise, they would often steal the food parcels. For about 25% of the prison population, escape was a ‘restless itch’. It was estimated that 5% of those were to be considered to be dedicated escape artists. The others would work in support of any escape attempts. Stalag had some of the finest escape artists in the allied air forces. Among those were my grandfather’s friend Officer Airman Wally Floody. Wally was the mastermind of the construction of all 3 tunnels, later to be nicknamed “The Tunnel King”. Nicknames were used a lot in the escape. Germans were known as “goons” a nickname that puzzled them. Tall sentry towers, which had searchlights and machine-guns, were called “goon towers”; and annoying the guards was called “goon baiting”. The Germans specializing in escape detection were called “ferrets”. They could come in at any time without warning and in any hut. The method that sand was removed, was by using “penguins”. These men had bags attached to their pockets of their trousers, that slowly released sand while they were walking. This was the job my Grandpa had. The three tunnels were Nicknamed “Tom, Dick and Harry”. (Continued)
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