Johnnie Dodge's grandfather was Brigadier-General Charles Cleveland Dodge, who fought in the American Civil War.
34 Facts About Johnnie Dodge
1.
2.
Johnnie Dodge's education included the Fay School and St Mark's School, in Southborough, Massachusetts and then north to McGill University of Montreal, Quebec in Canada.
3.
Johnnie Dodge served in the 7th Battalion of the Royal Naval Division first at Antwerp, then at Gallipoli.
4.
Together with Bernard Freyberg and two other officers, Johnnie Dodge decided where Rupert Brooke was to be buried, and dug the grave on Skyros, immediately before the Gallipoli assault.
5.
Johnnie Dodge's award was published in the London Gazette on 8 November 1915.
6.
Johnnie Dodge transferred to the British Army in April 1916 with the rank of captain, to the 10th Battalion Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment, with whom he served on the Western Front, taking part in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.
7.
Johnnie Dodge was promoted to major on 22 February 1918, was wounded on more than one occasion, and ended the war as an acting lieutenant-colonel commanding the 16th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment fighting in France.
8.
Johnnie Dodge was further decorated with the Distinguished Service Order, this being gazetted on 3 June 1919.
9.
Johnnie Dodge was demobilised on 18 December 1920, retaining the rank of major.
10.
Johnnie Dodge served on London County Council as member for Mile End from 1925 to 1931.
11.
Johnnie Dodge failed in his bids to get into Parliament for the Mile End parliamentary constituency in the 1924 and 1929 general elections.
12.
Johnnie Dodge became a member of the London Stock Exchange and took up the directorship of a New York bank.
13.
Johnnie Dodge married divorcee Minerva Sherman in New York about 1929.
14.
Johnnie Dodge was born in North Carolina; her great grandparents included Governor Tod Robinson Caldwell and General William Thomas Ward.
15.
At the outbreak of the war, Johnnie Dodge re-enlisted into the British Army, taking up the rank of major, serving with the Middlesex Regiment attached to the 51st Infantry Division.
16.
Johnnie Dodge was then captured by the Germans and became a Prisoner of War.
17.
Johnnie Dodge was given a short period in solitary confinement before being transferred to Stalag Luft I at Barth, with all the other recaptured escapers.
18.
Johnnie Dodge became good friends with Harry Day who had taken over the role of Senior British Officer, and he helped Day with the running of the camp and with escape matters.
19.
Johnnie Dodge was transferred to Stalag Luft III at Sagan in April 1942.
20.
Johnnie Dodge did not escape with the 33 men through a tunnel on 5 March 1943.
21.
Johnnie Dodge was transferred to Stalag Luft III in April 1943.
22.
Johnnie Dodge became involved with the organisation of what became known as The Great Escape.
23.
Johnnie Dodge was given a place in tunnel "Harry" and escaped at approximately 0100 on 25 March 1944 as part of the famous The Great Escape.
24.
Johnnie Dodge travelled with Flight Lieutenant James Wernham RCAF towards Czechoslovakia.
25.
Johnnie Dodge was the first to be removed from Hirschberg, and was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was later joined by Jimmy James, Harry Day and Flight Lieutenant Sydney Dowse.
26.
Johnnie Dodge, who travelled alone, was on the run for over a month, and after receiving help from some French slave labourers, was arrested by a German farmer and returned to Sachsenhausen.
27.
Johnnie Dodge was asked to undertake this task because of his distant relationship to British prime minister Winston Churchill.
28.
Johnnie Dodge arrived in Britain in May 1945 and actually met Churchill and the US ambassador to Britain, John Gilbert Winant on 6 May 1945.
29.
Johnnie Dodge explained his adventures and the German peace proposal.
30.
Johnnie Dodge was awarded the Military Cross for his services as a POW, this being recorded in the London Gazette on 18 April 1946.
31.
Post-war Johnnie Dodge was a central figure leading the war crimes investigation to bring key Gestapo and other officials to justice who were responsible for carrying out the orders to murder 50 of the 76 escapees from Stalag Luft III.
32.
Johnnie Dodge attempted to restart his political career, but with no success, when he stood at Gillingham at the 1945 General Election but lost narrowly to the winning Labour member, Joseph Binns.
33.
Johnnie Dodge died, aged 66, of a heart attack when hailing a taxi near Hyde Park in London in November 1960.
34.
Johnnie Dodge was portrayed by Christopher Reeve in the made-for-TV film The Great Escape II: The Untold Story.