Mac's memorabilia from PoW camp set to make a great escape at auction

Published on Wednesday 23 December 2009 21:41

HE WAS held in the German prisoner-of-war camp made famous from its portrayal in the celebrated movie The Great Escape.

• Among the wartime memorabilia from Pte MacDonald's collection to go up for auction is his log book from his time in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III, dated 1944-45. The book contains comical scenes of camp life.

Now a Scottish soldier's collection of memorabilia from his time in Stalag Luft III, in Poland, is set to be a star attraction at an auction in his home country.

William "Mac" MacDonald, who was born in Lossiemouth and brought up in Elgin, amassed dozens of drawings portraying life in the camp which various prisoners had created, including a two-page watercolour of the famous "Harry" trench, which was hidden under a stove.

Hundreds of prisoners spent more than a year plundering the camp to construct the 348ft-long tunnel, through which 76 men crawled to freedom in March, 1944 – the single greatest break for freedom attempted by prisoners of war during the Second World War.

Private MacDonald's collection – which is to be auctioned off by Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh next month – includes his complete prison camp log, as well as drawings showing various comical scenes of camp life, including its own theatre.

The collection also features a drawing of "Mac" in his tartan trousers created by one of the best-known members of the legendary escape team, Alex Cassie, who was portrayed in the film by Donald Pleasance.

His journal features several pages of verse, 15 pages of names and addresses of other prisoners in the camp and various photographs of the prisoners.

Pte MacDonald, who died aged 88 in April 2008, returned to the camp 60 years after the war ended. A former navigator in a Bristol Blenheim bomber, he was shot down early in the conflict. He played football for Elgin Town after the war, but moved with his wife Pamela to Sussex, where he became a textile inspector.

His collection is set to fetch up to 600 when it goes on sale as part of Lyon & Turnbull's sale of books, maps and manuscripts on 13 January.

A huge collection of material charting explorer Captain James Cook's voyages around the world is set to fetch more than 10,000 when it goes under the hammer. Plates, charts and maps produced in the wake of Capt Cook's expeditions are expected to be among the star attractions.

Other highlights include an uncorrected proof of JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book, which spells the writer's name incorrectly. It is expected to fetch 1,800. A rare signed picture of the Beatles after a concert in Glasgow and books by Sir Walter Scott, Charlotte Bront and Rudyard Kipling will also be auctioned off.

Alex Dove, a books expert at the auction house, said: "Letters from prison camps occasionally come up for auction, but this lot is so unusual because Pte MacDonald basically collected drawings from the other prisoners. The best one is a watercolour showing the famous "Harry" tunnel.

"It is thought that over 600 prisoners worked on the three tunnels – Tom, Dick & Harry – depicted in The Great Escape. Harry was the only tunnel to be completed."