From the lean days of Depression-era Texas to the thrill of being one of the few who flew Spitfires, from a death-defying crash landing in Occupied France to capture and torture by the Gestapo, imprisonment in the Great Escape camp, Stalag Luft III, and years spent becoming a serial escape artist, this is the wartime memoir of a true hero, a real-life "Cooler King."

Includes index.

An apprenticeship in escapology -- Discovering America -- 411 Squadron -- London's burning -- Fiery, fiery warriors -- The day of reckoning -- For you the war is over -- THis drain leads to Poland -- New country, new tunnel -- Digging for victory -- Over the wire -- A tour of Lithuania -- Gestapo revisited -- The scent of freedom -- The Winter March -- Pstscript.