Pat Reid wrote about his experiences in two best-selling books, which became the basis of a film, TV series and board game.
19 Facts About Pat Reid
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2.
Patrick Reid was born in Ranchi, India, the son of John Reid CIE ICS, of Carlow, Ireland, and Alice Mabel Daniell.
3.
Pat Reid was educated at St Dominic's Preparatory School, Cabra, County Dublin, Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, and Wimbledon College, London, and graduated from King's College London in 1932.
4.
Pat Reid joined the Territorial Army and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 16 June 1933 on the General List.
5.
Pat Reid joined the Royal Army Service Corps with the same rank on 5 June 1935.
6.
Pat Reid was promoted to Lieutenant exactly three years later on 5 June 1938.
7.
Pat Reid was mobilised for active duty on 24 August 1939, and served in the 2nd Infantry Division, receiving promotion to Temporary Captain on 1 December 1939.
8.
Pat Reid was sent to Laufen castle, Bavaria, designated Oflag VII-C, arriving there on 5 June 1940.
9.
Pat Reid was sentenced to a month of solitary confinement, on a diet of bread and water.
10.
Pat Reid bribed a seemingly willing German guard to look the other way.
11.
Pat Reid assisted in many escape attempts, some successful, until April 1942, when he was replaced as Escape Officer by fellow member of the "Laufen Six" Captain Richard "Dick" Howe.
12.
Pat Reid remained in Switzerland until after the end of the war, serving as an Assistant Military Attache in Bern from 9 March 1943 until early 1946, and receiving promotion to Temporary Major on 1 November 1945.
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Pat Reid was unusually discreet about his duties there, and was in fact working for the Secret Intelligence Service gathering intelligence from arriving escapees.
14.
Pat Reid left the army on 29 March 1947, but remained a member of the Regular Army Reserve until reaching mandatory retirement age on 15 November 1965.
15.
Pat Reid served in the British embassy at Ankara, Turkey, as First Secretary from 1946 until 1949, then as Chief Administrator for the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation in Paris, France, until 1952.
16.
Pat Reid then returned to his prewar career in civil engineering, serving as a director of the construction companies Richard Costain Ltd.
17.
Pat Reid died at the Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, on 22 May 1990, at the age of 79.
18.
Pat Reid served as president of the Blackboys Cricket Club in Framfield, Sussex in 1972.
19.
Pat Reid actively went on lecture tours in the early 1970s with his models of Colditz Castle and other memorabilia and photographs.