30/11/92

Press Release

Eden Camp:

6th May 1999

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

After 55 years, some of the Allied forces most heroic escapees and evaders will be back behind barbed wire in a PoW Camp, many of them accompanied by those that helped them escape all those years ago.

Following the success of the second Evaders & Escapees weekend last April, Eden Camp will again be playing host to this unique group of individuals. The reunion takes place on Saturday 15th May 1999. It will be the largest gathering of those involved in the Escape Lines ever.

We expect over 300 to attend, including members of the Royal Air Force Escaping Society, Army PoW Escape Club (Retired), Monte San Marino Trust, Special Forces Club and MGB Association who will be traveling from all corners of Great Britain. We also have representatives traveling from the USA, South of France, Belgium, Denmark, Holland and Italy. For the first time members of the Colditz Association and F.A.N.Y’s will also be attending to witness the unveiling of plaques dedicated to their members. The plaques are to be unveiled within the Eden Camp Chapel of Remembrance.

There will be a large number of highly decorated veterans attending, the majority of which will be staying in the nearby towns of Malton York and Scarborough. Those taking part in the reunion are expected to start arriving from 10.00am with a short service and wreath laying ceremony being held around our war memorial at approximately 12.00 noon. They will then be able to view exhibitions dedicated to the Escape Lines, the Great Escape, the Wooden Horse Escape and Colditz which are displayed in Huts 9 and 28.

This will be the largest gathering of its kind in the world. It will be a unique event, and as those directly involved in the events of evasion and escape in the Second World War get older, it is difficult to envisage such an international gathering happening again.

Please do not hesitate to contact myself Steve Jaques or Nick Hill if you require any further information.

admin@edencamp.co.uk