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LONDON – A survivor of the Great Escape plot by Allied prisoners in a German prison in World War II has died.

His family said Jack Harrison died Friday at age 97 at Erskine veterans’ home in Bishopton, Scotland.

Harrison was a Royal Air Force pilot who was shot down and captured on his first mission in 1942.

He was part of the plot to escape from Stalag Luft III in 1944, retold in the film “The Great Escape.” However, he was not among the 76 who broke out. Harrison was 98th on the list to go, but guards detected the 77th escape.

Of the 76 who escaped, only three got to safety. Fifty were executed on Adolf Hitler’s orders, and 23 others were returned to custody.

AP – They flew planes during World War II but weren’t considered “real” military pilots. No flags were draped over their coffins when they died on duty. And when their service ended, they had to pay their own bus fare home.

AP – The 97-year-old American’s memories of comrades blown away on either side of him on Iwo Jima are a world away from his vision of the island after returning to commemorate one of World War II’s fiercest battles.