Under the Wire

American Bill Ash went from hobo to hero as he joined up to fly Spitfires for the RAF in 1940, before the United States entered the war. Shot down in 1942, the French Resistance helped him on the run until the Gestapo caught and tortured him, then sentenced him to death as a spy. He was saved by the Luftwaffe and put in legendary Great Escape camp Stalag Luft III, thanking them by escaping a dozen times, over the wire, under it or straight though it. He became one of the great 'escape artists' of the war, risking all for that elusive 'home run'.