1. Bertram James was an officer of the Royal Air Force, ultimately reaching the rank of Squadron Leader.
22 Facts About Bertram James
1. 2.
Bertram James worked in British Columbia from 1934 until volunteering for pilot training with the RAF in 1939 after seeing a recruiting poster in Vancouver.
3.
Bertram James was initially commissioned as an acting pilot officer, and was promoted to pilot officer on 9 December 1939.
4.
Bertram James was posted to No 9 Squadron RAF at RAF Honington in April 1940 after completing his flying training.
5.
Bertram James was a second pilot of a Wellington bomber when he was shot down over the Netherlands on 5 June 1940 and he was then taken prisoner.
6.
From Berlin, Bertram James was moved to the notoriously bleak Stalag Luft I at Barth on the northern coast of Germany.
7.
Fifty were then executed, Bertram James being one of a handful sent instead to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
8.
On 23 September 1944, Bertram James escaped from Sachsenhausen, accompanied by Jack Churchill, Harry Day, Johnnie Dodge and Sydney Dowse using small cutlery knives to dig an escape tunnel over 110 metres long.
9.
Bertram James's cell was tiny, just enough to stand up and stretch.
10.
For over 4 months Jimmy Bertram James suffered daily harassment from the guards, mock executions and, of course, virtually no food.
11.
Bertram James made a successful parachute descent some 25 miles south of Rotterdam, disposed of his equipment, and evaded some people who were approaching, but subsequently was captured by the Germans.
12.
Bertram James was held at Oberursel for four days for interrogation.
13.
Flight Lieutenant Bertram James managed to leave with civilian clothes and forged documents and, together with eleven others, entrained for Boberohrsdorf, arriving there the next morning.
14.
Flight Lieutenant Bertram James was eventually sent to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp where, with others, in May, 1944, he commenced the construction of a tunnel some hundred feet in length, and 10 feet below the surface.
15.
Flight Lieutenant Bertram James remained in the cells from 6 October 1944, until 15 February 1945.
16.
Bertram James was ultimately liberated by the Allied forces on 6 May 1945.
17.
Bertram James married shortly after the war to a nurse, Madge, he met in an Officers Club at Vlotho in Germany.
18.
Bertram James subsequently held posts in Africa, Western and Eastern Europe and London.
19.
Bertram James was a well known public speaker, touring the country and overseas to recount his wartime experiences.
20.
Bertram James served as the British representative on the International Sachsenhausen Committee until shortly before his death at the age of 92 at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on 18 January 2008.
21.
Bertram James's funeral was held at St Peter's Catholic Church, Ludlow on 31 January 2008.
22.
Jimmy Bertram James wrote an excellent account of his time as a prisoner of war in his book, "Moonless Night".