_112 The Highland Houdini "Seaforth Highlander Private Johnnie Matheson was taken prisoner at St. Valery-en-Caux in June 1940 and sent to a POW camp to spend the rest of the war in as a prisoner of war, but Johnnie had other ideas\u2026determined not to be held prisoner for the duration of the war he attempted to escape his German captors not less than five times!\r\nAs an enlisted soldier Johnnie, unlike the officers held as POWs, was part of a working party, a group of men sent out of the POW camp to work for their captors. Often the work they were made to do was hard labouring working as miners, foresters, agricultural and factory workers. The POWs would sleep in accommodation near where they worked and were kept under armed guard. Many men tried to escape from the work parties. \r\nJohnnie\u2019s first three escape attempts were all unplanned and happened when he was part of a work party. On each escape attempt Johnnie noticed the guards were not paying attention and he took his chance to simply walk away from the work party and make his escape. Often men who attempted this were shot dead by the guards but on each occasion Johnnie was quickly recaptured and put into solitary confinement for a month as punishment. \r\nJohnnie\u2019s next escape attempt was better planned. He and his friend, Snowy, were part of a work party harvesting seeds from plants near Stalag IX C. They were housed in wooden huts surrounded by barbed wire fences. They spent six months digging a tunnel from under the stove in their hut to beyond the barbed wire fence keeping them in. When they day of escape came they crawled through the tunnel, emerging on the other side of the fence, and made a run for it as the guards fired machine guns at them. \r\nUsing the stars as their guide, Johnnie and Snowy spent the next month trying to reach Switzerland. Travelling at night and hiding during the day, they survived by steeling vegetables from gardens before arriving on the shores of Lake Constance which separated Germany and Switzerland. Johnnie couldn\u2019t swim, and despite Snowy pleading with him to come, he decided he would rather be shot for trying to escape than drown in the water. Snowy made it across the lake to safety, Johnnie was recaptured and sent back to camp. As punishment for his escape Johnnie\u2019s fingernails were painfully removed and he received another month's solitary confinement in an underground chamber.\r\nJohnnie\u2019s fifth and final escape came in 1945 when, in the face of probable defeat, the Germans began evacuating the POW camps, marching the POWs west across Europe in an attempt to prolong the liberation of the POWs. Johnnie had heard that the German planned to march them to the Alpes and shoot them so, after three days marching to what he believed would be his death, Johnnie tried one final escape. One night he escaped his billet in a hayloft, slipped into a ditch and disappeared into the night. \r\nAfter days of walking and trying to stay out of sight of the Germans, he made it to a wood where he bedded down in a tree covered hollow. There was fighting all around him and he could hear German voices close by, but he remained hidden for several days. Eventually he heard American voices and made himself known to them by shouting \u201cI\u2019m a POW!\u201d. Johnnie was only six stones in weight, starving hungry and thirsty when he found the American soldiers. They gave him water and food, an American uniform, and a rifle, and posted him to one of their tank units to help with the war effort until victory in Europe was declared. \r\nUnsure what to do with him when the war was over, the Americans eventually sent Johnnie home with \u00a31000 they\u2019d gathered in a whip-round and a brand new BMW which had been requisitioned and painted with the stars and stripes of the American flag. Johnnie drove the BMW across Europe back home to Scotland where he became a farmer after the war. " eulac3d Organisation TEXT "Seaforth Highlander Private Johnnie Matheson was taken prisoner at St. Valery-en-Caux in June 1940 and sent to a POW camp to spend the rest of the war in as a prisoner of war, but Johnnie had other ideas\u2026determined not to be held prisoner for the duration of the war he attempted to escape his German captors not less than five times!\r\nAs an enlisted soldier Johnnie, unlike the officers held as POWs, was part of a working party, a group of men sent out of the POW camp to work for their captors. Often the work they were made to do was hard labouring working as miners, foresters, agricultural and factory workers. The POWs would sleep in accommodation near where they worked and were kept under armed guard. Many men tried to escape from the work parties. \r\nJohnnie\u2019s first three escape attempts were all unplanned and happened when he was part of a work party. On each escape attempt Johnnie noticed the guards were not paying attention and he took his chance to simply walk away from the work party and make his escape. Often men who attempted this were shot dead by the guards but on each occasion Johnnie was quickly recaptured and put into solitary confinement for a month as punishment. \r\nJohnnie\u2019s next escape attempt was better planned. He and his friend, Snowy, were part of a work party harvesting seeds from plants near Stalag IX C. They were housed in wooden huts surrounded by barbed wire fences. They spent six months digging a tunnel from under the stove in their hut to beyond the barbed wire fence keeping them in. When they day of escape came they crawled through the tunnel, emerging on the other side of the fence, and made a run for it as the guards fired machine guns at them. \r\nUsing the stars as their guide, Johnnie and Snowy spent the next month trying to reach Switzerland. Travelling at night and hiding during the day, they survived by steeling vegetables from gardens before arriving on the shores of Lake Constance which separated Germany and Switzerland. Johnnie couldn\u2019t swim, and despite Snowy pleading with him to come, he decided he would rather be shot for trying to escape than drown in the water. Snowy made it across the lake to safety, Johnnie was recaptured and sent back to camp. As punishment for his escape Johnnie\u2019s fingernails were painfully removed and he received another month's solitary confinement in an underground chamber.\r\nJohnnie\u2019s fifth and final escape came in 1945 when, in the face of probable defeat, the Germans began evacuating the POW camps, marching the POWs west across Europe in an attempt to prolong the liberation of the POWs. Johnnie had heard that the German planned to march them to the Alpes and shoot them so, after three days marching to what he believed would be his death, Johnnie tried one final escape. One night he escaped his billet in a hayloft, slipped into a ditch and disappeared into the night. \r\nAfter days of walking and trying to stay out of sight of the Germans, he made it to a wood where he bedded down in a tree covered hollow. There was fighting all around him and he could hear German voices close by, but he remained hidden for several days. Eventually he heard American voices and made himself known to them by shouting \u201cI\u2019m a POW!\u201d. Johnnie was only six stones in weight, starving hungry and thirsty when he found the American soldiers. They gave him water and food, an American uniform, and a rifle, and posted him to one of their tank units to help with the war effort until victory in Europe was declared. \r\nUnsure what to do with him when the war was over, the Americans eventually sent Johnnie home with \u00a31000 they\u2019d gathered in a whip-round and a brand new BMW which had been requisitioned and painted with the stars and stripes of the American flag. Johnnie drove the BMW across Europe back home to Scotland where he became a farmer after the war. " "" image/png Image "" image/png Image "" image/png Image "" image/png Image