Harold Willis

Harold Willis was born in 1886. He graduated from Harvard, and worked as an architect in Boston. He was 28 when World War I started. He left his work to join the American Ambulance Service in France shortly after the war started. He helped rescue French soldiers from the front lines until he joined the French Foreign Legion. He became part of the air force in 1917. Less than 6 months later he was shot down while flying as a fighter escort for a bomber squadron. Miraculously he crashed landed his plane without being injured. He convinced his German captors that he was an officer even though he was not. He did not have any papers, and he was wearing pajamas under his flight suit. The Germans believed him when he said he was a officer. The first attempt he made to escape failed, after months of planning, but he was able to trick the Germans. Before he was transferred he mad a plaster bust of Beethoven. The Germans were impressed and let him keep it when he moved. What they did not know was that Harold had hidden a pair of wire cutters inside. He would meet Edouard Issacs at Villingen and plan the greatest escape of World War One.This is a link to his picture: http://www.neam.org/lafescweb/images/conf5_willis.jpg