At the country end of a sunbathed (and very hot) Paddington station 800210 'Wing Commander Ken Rees' waits to depart with the 13.18 GWR service to Cardiff Central. The IET was named in May 2021 at Swansea station in a ceremony that commemorated the life of the former World Warr II bomber pilot who died in 2014 at the ripe old age of ninety-three. After capture following being shot down in Norway WC Rees was imprisoned in Poland's Stalag Luft III where he made a number of escape attempts. It is alleged that Steve McQueen’s character in the 1963 film The Great Escape is said to be based on Ken due to his antagonistic attitude towards his captors and his persistent attempts to escape and not leas, his love of riding motorbikes!
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