A forgotten hero of The Great Escape

[Richard]

24 Mar 1944. Lest we forget. I still have a pre-publication copy of Sage (Colonel Sage was also an early SFer) which I reviewed for Infantry Magazine some 25 years ago - damn, that sounds like a long time ago.

Richard's $.02

A forgotten hero of The Great Escape

As of 65 years ago last night, Allied POWS at Stalag Luft III began their escape attempt (it was March 24, 1944). Out of the 76 men who escaped the German camp, only three made it to freedom; 50 of them were executed.

The escape was immortalized in the film "The Great Escape." U.S. Army Col. Jerry Sage is the war hero on whom Steve McQueen's character was based, though regretfully you never seem to hear much about him. Sage worked for 15 months on a three-tunnel escape plan while in the POW camp, which he told of in his book "Sage" The movie "The Great Escape" was based on the book of the same title by Paul Brickhill, but Sage's exploits are credited with helping form the movie's plot (though his own book wasn't printed until well after the movie was made).

According to his 1993 obituary in Variety, Sage:


"...earned the nickname 'Cooler King' because he was placed in solitary confinement 15 times in the Nazi camp.
In the movie, McQueen whiled away time in solitary with a baseball glove and ball.

After numerous breakout attempts, Sage, who worked for the U.S. Office of Strategic Service, made his final escape across Poland after being a POW for more than three years."


According to IMDB:

"Steve McQueen's character Hilts was based on amalgamation of several characters, including Major Dave Jones, a flight commander during Doolittle's Raid who made it to Europe and was shot down and captured and Colonel Jerry Sage, who was an OSS agent in the North African desert when he was captured. Col. Sage was able to don a flight jacket and pass as a flier otherwise he would have been executed as a spy. Another inspiration was probably Sqn Ldr Eric Foster who escaped no less than seven times from German prisoner-of-war camps."
There's not a lot out there about Col. Sage. I remember him coming to speak at a history class when I was in junior high in the '80s; he talked about how he could kill a man in two seconds with his bare hands. Even though he was well into his 60s at the time, I firmly believed him and didn't doubt he could still do it if need be.

Sage struck me as a tough old bird who gave a hell of a lot in service of the United States. He was a member of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in World War II, a predecessor of the CIA. Perhaps he kept such a low profile due to the nature of his work. He also seems to have led an incredibly interesting life. I wish there was more out there about him (heck, I wish at least that his book were still in print! You can find some used copies on Amazon and at Abebooks.).

http://www.thebustedlollipop.com/200...at-escape.html