Submitted by Ron Cameron
During WWII the Nazis built many Prisoner of War (POW) camps in Europe. Stalag Luft III was one of those camps, and it was built near Sagan, Poland. There are many terrific stories involvingCanadians in WWII. The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III is one of those stories, and the Drayton Valley area has a connection to it. Bill Cameron (my uncle), who grew up just west of Rocky Rapids, was one of 80 prisoners who, on March 24, 1944, escaped from Stalag Luft III.This escape is known as The Great Escape, and in 1964 a movie with that title was made in the U.S. The Hollywood celebrities who starred in the film were some of the biggest names of that era including Steve McQueen, James Garner, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson.
Like most WWI and WWII veterans, Uncle Bill did not talk much about WWII. So the story that follows is partly based on the few details that he shared with some of his siblings, and partly from a book by Ted Barris called “The Great Escape – A Canadian Story” (published in 2013). This is a terrific story and I highly recommend it.
Uncle Bill was a fighter pilot in WWII, and he flew Spitfire aircraft. In August of 1943 he was shot down over Tunisia and was captured by the Italians who handed him over to the Germans. Along with many other prisoners, he was stuffed into a railroad cattle car with no food, no water, and no bathroom facilities, and sent to Stalag Luft III. His family was notified by telegram that Bill had been shot down and was missing, and was presumed dead. It was six months before his family would get word that he was still alive. But shortly after his family got the good news that Bill was still alive, they got the bad news that Bill’s younger brother, Neil, had been killed in action in Italy. And just a few months after that they got the news that another brother, Dave, who was serving in the Canadian Army in France, had been shot in the stomach and was grievously wounded.
Stalag Luft III was divided into three different compounds which held a total of almost eleven thousand POWs, all of them being Allied air force personnel. Many of the POWs were determined to escape, and several different escape attempts were made. A British Air Force officer named Roger Bushell came up with the idea of digging a tunnel that would start inside one of the huts, go underneath the fence that surrounded the compound, and out into the forest that was just outside the fence. This evolved into the idea of digging three tunnels (each originating in a different hut), the reason being that the POWs believed it was highly likely that the Germans would find at least one of the tunnels, but they would never suspect that there were actually three tunnels being dug. This made it much more likely that at least one of the tunnels would be successful. There were only about six hundred airmen involved in the actual digging of the tunnels. The remaining POWs were not even aware that the tunnels were being dug. We do not know how it was that Uncle Bill became involved in the tunneling.
Looking forward to a nice relaxing summer? Not so fast. As we (finally!) approach the nice bit of 2026, I thought it would be useful to put together a list of the things I am currently worried about. And if I’m going to worry about them, so should you.
I’m worried about the way our provincial government is extending its own powers. The UCP is attempting to broaden its authority in areas that have traditionally been under federal jurisdiction. At the same time they are limiting the powers of municipalities and school boards to act without provincial approval. If all this comes to pass we are going to have one honking big (and powerful) government in Edmonton. That should give every one the collywobbles. If the NDP had tried something like this while they were in power we’d have been screaming to the high heavens.
I’m worried about our friends to the south. Every time you think America can’t get any more dystopian they find a way to prove you wrong. And the noise! It’s like living next door to a frat house.
I’m worried about retirement. The Canada Pension Plan works just fine. I’m looking forward to collecting my CPP in a year or two. Brand name beer here I come! The thought of ditching the CPP for a new and untried Alberta Pension Plan makes me more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. And yet that’s what the provincial government seems intent on doing. I’m sorry, I’m sure Danielle and the gang have nothing but good intentions, but I don’t trust them not to make a complete and utter mess of things. If they feel like gambling I wish they’d do it with their own money.
I’m worried about the amount of ill-informed bile I see on social media and elsewhere directed at immigrants and refugees. This stuff invariably comes from people who claim to be acting to protect Canadian values. Clearly we have a different view on exactly what Canadian values are.
I’m worried that our thoughts and prayers don’t seem to be doing enough to prevent school shootings, public transit attacks or any of a raft of other atrocities. And I’m worried that I seem to have lost count of the number of those atrocities that have happened already this year. Perhaps we should all try thinking and praying harder?
I’m worried that we seem to spend more time focussing on the things that divide us than on the things that unite us.
I’m worried that these days, when you come across something that doesn’t match your own narrow world view, you’re free to select your own set of alternative facts to back up whatever bonkers theory you’re supporting. And if someone points out that your set of facts aren’t actually very, umm, factual, you’re able to label him as a stooge of big government who’s too blind to see that the Earth really is flat, 9/11 was the work of the Illuminati, the Kremlin is controlled by Disney etc. etc. etc.
I’m worried about inflation. I’m worried about Iran. I’m worried about the Blue Jays’ pitching. I’m worried about gas prices and I’m worried about property tax.
There. I’m glad that’s off my chest. Now It’s time to get out and enjoy that sunshine!
Three degrees with a chance of flurries? I did not see that coming. Dammit!
The Hearts and Hands Quilters’ Guild did more than just draw winners for their annual quilt raffle last week. They also presented 14 quilts to All Are Daughters for use at their women’s rehabilitation facility.
The guild boasts 28 members from the community, and all of them work to build quilts that can be donated to people in need. Each year, they hold a raffle fundraiser for three quilts, and the proceeds are then split between three different organizations.
This year they raised about $700 for their guild, the Kickstand Youth Hub, and STARS, along with their donation of quilts to All Are Daughters.
Trina Beckett, the vice president of All Are Daughters, was on hand at their meeting to accept the donation.
“About a year-and-a-half ago, a group of us women got together to start working on this dream of so many of us to open this recovery centre for women,” says Beckett.
She says there are members of the board who have gone through addiction and have been in recovery for years. Beckett is the mother of an addict, and her experience helping her daughter get through the first few months of recovery made her want to help others going through something similar.
“As a parent, you do anything to help your child because you know they’re in there somewhere,” she says.
Beckett says her daughter was involved with the centre before she passed away last summer. Despite the loss of her daughter, Beckett still wants to see the centre completed.
Right now, the facility is ready to go, but they don’t have an open date just yet. The organization is currently waiting for funding from the Province to cover operating costs, as well as getting licensing in order.
“We do have all our rooms spoken for as sponsor rooms right now,” she says. “We are just waiting for the go-ahead to get open.”
She says there aren’t any recovery centres for women in rural communities. Having both a men’s and a women’s centre is a positive thing, she says.
“We thank you guys for your support as well,” she told the guild. “Without the support of the community, we wouldn’t be able to do so far what we’ve done.”
The winners of this year’s raffles were Mel Sibley from Warburg, who took home Wolves on the Prowl; Pam Baker, who won Winter’s Day; and Wendy Nordell received One Up One Down.
The guild is always looking for new members, and they meet on the third Thursday of each month at the Beehive Support Services Building, but don’t meet in July or August. They also have regular sewing days on Wednesdays.
Opportunity Home’s first Spring Shaker was a success, says executive director Danna Cropley.
“The event sold out within the first few weeks,” says Cropley. “Beyond that, the event went absolutely amazingly.”
The evening had a dance, a catered dinner, and silent auction items to help raise funds for the rehabilitation centre. Cropley says it wouldn’t have been possible without the volunteers who helped put the event together. About 230 people attended.
“Jen Winter, Janice Kupsch, and their crew organized the event. The room was full of energy and community; it was so great,” says Cropley.
One of the reasons for the event, along with raising funds to help run the facility, was to educate the public about what the facility does and how it helps those in need. Opportunity Home opened its doors in February 2023, and has seen numerous people complete the 90-day program during its three years of operation.
Earlier in the week, Cropley also spoke to town council with the same goal in mind.
“Because the council is fairly new… we just wanted to update them on Opportunity Home’s mission, vision, and values, [as well] as the value our project brings, not only to the municipality but also our provincial community and out to our country.”
Cropley says the facility has offered beds to people from across the province, British Columbia, and some from the United States. She says she wanted council to see the reach that they have now and how they are supporting Recovery Alberta’s response to the current opioid crisis.
In her presentation to council, Cropley touched on the community, social, and economic value the centre brought to the community. This included the volunteer work the clients provided, homelessness and poverty prevention, as well as reducing taxpayer costs for emergency, health, and justice services.
She says community investment is a crucial part of the success of the centre, not in terms of dollars, but in terms of interest from the community, volunteers, and feedback.
“I just really wanted to make sure that town council was aware of who we are and what we do,” says Cropley.
Opportunity Home is hosting another event on June 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. that is open to the public: a memorial tree planting ceremony, along with a barbecue and tour of the facility. Cropley says they will also have different resources and services at the event for people to connect with if needed.
She says the tree-planting ceremony will be in honour of some community members who have recently passed away. Members of the public are welcome to donate to plant a tree in memory of someone they have lost.
It seems that those pushing for Alberta independence have enough signatures to force a referendum on the issue. That put me in mind of something I wrote a few years ago that I think still holds water.
If Alberta’s going to ditch the rest of Canada we need to set a few rules. This is going to take a while, so it’s best to start talking about it now so we know where we stand if and when it comes to a vote.
First we have to figure out what an Albertan actually is.
There used to be a guy who lived down the street from me who had a bumper sticker that said, “Canadian by birth, Albertan by the grace of God.” It always struck me as a little odd. That was partly because it was on the rear bumper of the first Toyota Prius I’d ever seen with a gun rack. But it’s also because I’ve lived in this province for well over three decades, and I’ve never been able to figure out what makes an Albertan an Albertan.
OK, so an Albertan is someone who comes from Alberta. That’s according to no less a source than the Oxford Canadian Dictionary so I’m not about to start arguing. But the results of the most recent federal census suggest that’s a pretty broad group. If the number and variety of languages spoken in this province is any kind of a guide, Albertans come from all over the place, both within Canada and from every corner of the globe.
That’s true of other places too of course. Places like London and New York are breathtaking in their diversity. What makes Alberta different is that everything here is so new. We’ve been a province for not much more than a century and have evolved so rapidly in such a short time, with so many waves of immigration from so many parts of the world that it sometimes feels as if we’ve never developed a separate sense of ourselves. At least not in the way you’d find among the societies of Africa, Asia or Europe, or even in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia or Quebec.
So what do we have that binds such a broad group together and sets us apart from the rest of the country? There’s the Flames and the Oilers I suppose. And beef. We like beef and are justifiably proud of both the quality and quantity this province produces. I think it’s also fair to say that we work hard. Not me, obviously, but most of the rest of you. And perhaps most importantly right now, there’s a sense of frustration that we always end up with a federal government that most of us didn’t vote for. But even at the last election, when dislike of Ottawa was probably at its peak, more than a third of us voted either Liberal or NDP and a significant number of us didn’t vote at all. So things are not as black and white as they may appear.
Anyway, as far as things that set us apart from the folks in Toronto or Tuktoyaktuk, that’s about it. Don’t get me wrong. I love this province and I love the people who live here (most of you anyway) but it doesn’t feel like we’ve got much to build a country on. Albertans are good people and we have a lot to offer the world. But at the same time we’re an odd and interesting mixture that doesn’t seem quite sure of its own identity. Sort of like a Prius with a gun rack.
The Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre will be hosting the Yellowhead Regional One-Act Plays Festival on April 10 and 11 this year.
Ashley Luckwell, the chair of the board for River Valley Players, says the regional festival will have five performances this year. Cast and crew from Leduc, St. Albert, Devon, Beaumont, and Drayton Valley will be participating in the event.
“There are five different groups from the Yellowhead Region that are coming,” she says.
Luckwell says the event is being put on by the Alberta Drama Festival Association (AFDA). This festival is one of several that are occurring across the province, with the winners from each heading on to the provincial festival in Leduc in May this year.
“We’re really excited to have it here,” says Luckwell. “It’s great to show off the EPAC; it’s great to have them come into our community.”
The festival will take place over two days, with each of the plays lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to about 45 minutes. RVP members Leah Sanderson, Sarah Chapman, Katherine De Varennes, and Jan Wright will be performing their play Overtones on Friday night.
Luckwell says the play is one she directed and was written by Alice Gerstenberg in the early 1900s. It was first performed in 1915 at the Bandox Theatre in New York.
The play highlights the difference between what people say and what they are actually thinking. Two of the actors will be playing characters having a conversation, and two younger actors will be playing a younger version of themselves giving voice to the first two character’s inner thoughts.
The other plays will be Steven Goes to Japan to Run a Marathon, Crystal Blue Persuasion, The Crimson Cab Ladies Hit the Beach, and Don’t Mention Hollywood.
Luckwell says there has been lots of support from local businesses for this event, with some giving discounts on food and others sponsoring the festival as well.
“It’s been really great,” she says.
Tickets for the event will be for sale at the doors for $15. Luckwell says cash is preferred as it is not the EPAC that will be taking the funds, but rather volunteers for the AFDA.
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As the POWs had suspected, the Germans did suspect that a tunnel was being dug, and they managed to find one of the three tunnels. That left the POWs to continue work on the other two tunnels, and it took about a year before one of them was completed in March, 1944. The POW’s wanted to wait until the weather warmed up a little before they attempted the escape, but they became worried that the Germans suspected that there might be another tunnel. So on the night of March 24, 1944, eighty airmen were able to escape through the tunnel and get outside the fence. Uncle Bill was the 62nd prisoner who got out. But as fate would have it, just as the last few prisoners emerged from the tunnel, a German guard caught them and sounded the alarm. So eighty prisoners got out of the tunnel, but only seventy six got away. Of that number, only three were able to get back behind Allied lines – the other seventy three were recaptured.
March of 1944 was unusually cold and the escapees did not have much in the way of clothing. Uncle Bill became hypothermic and was unable to keep on moving, so the other airmen that he was running with had to leave him behind. The Germans found him three days after the escape, and he did not try to put up any resistance when they caught him.
Hitler was livid when he was told that there had been an escape from Stalag Luft III, and he issued the Sagan Order which decreed that all of the escapees who were recaptured were to be shot. For some reason Air Marshal Hermann Goering protested the order, so it was amended to say that more than half of the escapees were to be shot. The Gestapo determined that the phrase “more than half” meant fifty, so Area Commander Arthur Nebe was given the job of deciding who would live and who would die. It is not known exactly how he made his choices, but it appears that he chose to execute those who did not have a family and were a little older (although none of the escapees were actually very old). Uncle Bill was only twenty three, so his relatively young age probably saved his life. Also, he thought that perhaps two other factors had saved him – he did not put up any resistance when he was captured, and, unlike some of those who were recaptured, he did not speak any German.
After WWII, Uncle Bill was shipped home to Canada where he got married and raised a family. He died in 2000 at the age of 80 years.
Those of us who have come after Uncle Bill’s generation have been able to live a life filled with freedom and opportunity, in large part due to the sacrifices that Uncle Bill and all the other veterans of WWI and WWII made. On Remembrance Day, let us pause to remember what they did for all of us.
