Bernard Green: From Ypres, Somme and Passchendaele to the Great Escape

Bernard Green: From Ypres, Somme and Passchendaele to the Great Escape


Get to know Bernard Green, a man who served in some of the Great War’s most brutal battles and was able to survive The Great Escape.
Bernard Green was already 52 when he signed up to fight in the Second World War. And at his age, he was no novice in battles. Pop, as he was known to the younger POWs in Stalag Luft III, had already served in the First World War’s Western Front. And at 55, he found himself crawling under the Stalag Luft III tunnel that he, along with 77 men, dug up. This event went down into history as the famous Great Escape and was even immortalized into a film of the same name. Fortunately for him, he was one of this escape’s survivors.
As a matter of fact, before taking part in The Great Escape, Bernard Green experienced being wounded twice while he participated in a number of WWI’s most bloodiest skirmishes — in Ypres, in the Somme and in Passchendaele. The horrors he was able to witness while serving in the Great War’s Western Front would have been enough to last him a lifetime.
However, he couldn’t resist the call for service when WWII broke out.

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/bernard-green-ypres-somme-passchendaele-great-escape.html