Alfie Fripp Alfred George Fripp ( 13 June 1914 – 3 January 2013 ) , known as " Alfie " or " Bill " , was a British Royal Air Force squadron leader who was a flight sergeant during the Second World War . He was shot down by the Luftwaffe in 1939 and held in twelve different prisoner of war camps , including Stalag Luft III , later the site of the " The Great Escape " . As the last of the " 39ers " ( those taken prisoner in the first year of the war ) , he was the oldest surviving and longest serving British POW . Early life . Fripp was born in Alverstoke ( Hampshire , England ) on 13 June 1914 . He was raised in Wimborne ( Dorset England ) . Royal Air Force career . Fripp ' s father was a regular in the Royal Marines and , from the age of twelve , Fripp had planned to become an artificer apprentice in the Royal Navy . He failed the medical exam , however , as he was almost four inches shorter than the requirement . When he learned the Royal Air Force was recruiting apprentices of all heights , he took the RAF entrance exam to become an electrical apprentice . Fripp enlisted in the RAF on 30 September 1930 at RAF Halton , and in 1932 transferred to training for wireless operators . He joined No . 57 Squadron RAF in 1939 . Three days after the declaration of war on 3 September 1939 , just before 57 Squadron was called to duty , Fripp married Vera Violet Allen . Prisoner of war . On 13 October 1939 , while on a reconnaissance mission as an observer , the Bristol Blenheim aircraft he was in was shot at , pursued , and forced into an emergency landing in Germany . Fripp and the pilot , Flight Lieutenant Mike Casey , were captured , along with the third airman , all of whom emerged with bruises and scrapes . From 1939 until 1945 , Fripp was a prisoner of war . On 25 October Fripp wrote a letter to his wife from Kriegs Gefanger , Stalag in Moosburg , Germany ; Fripp assured his wife of his well - being and suggested that Germany might be a nice place to visit for their honeymoon . He and six other airmen were allowed to record thirty - second Christmas messages to their families , which were broadcast on shortwave radio from Berlin ; Fripp sent greetings to his mother and told his wife , " Although I shall not be at home with you in person , I shall be with you in spirit . " His wife was staying at his mother ' s home in Wimborne . Fripp was imprisoned at Stalag Luft III , the site of an escape attempt by an international group of prisoners of war in March 1944 . A fictionalised version of the escape was depicted in the 1963 film , " The Great Escape " . Before the escape , Fripp collected parcels from the Red Cross , some of which contained maps and equipment such as radio parts . While Fripp was collecting the parcels , he occasionally " liberated " tools , such as steel files and wire cutters , which were used to dig the tunnel . Fripp was moved to another stalag two months before the escape . His pilot , Casey , escaped from Stalag Luft III , but he was recaptured and murdered ( along with forty - nine other escaped prisoners ) on the orders of Adolf Hitler . Fripp was held in eleven other prison camps , in which he often served as a representative of the Red Cross . At the end of the war , he and other POWs were forced into " The Long March " from Poland to Germany , as German forces retreated before the Army of the Soviet Union . Fripp continued to serve in the RAF until 1969 and attained the rank of Squadron Leader . In 2009 , Fripp returned to Stalag Luft III , where he and others commemorated his fallen comrades . On that occasion , he said " I ’ m glad I came to remember Mike – you reflect back on all the memories and the people you knew . As for the Germans , I ’ ve forgiven them but not forgotten . " Civilian career . After retiring from the RAF , Fripp moved to Bournemouth , Dorset and joined Brockenhurst ' s sixth form college , where he supervised the scientific laboratory . He worked for ten years before retiring at the age of 65 . Personal life . Fripp and his wife Vera had two daughters . He became a grandfather and great - grandfather . His nephew Robert Fripp is a guitarist best known as a founding member of King Crimson . Death . Fripp died in hospital in Bournemouth on 3 January 2013 at the age of 98 , almost six - and - a - half months short of his 99th birthday . He was the oldest surviving Second World War British prisoner of war . His wife had earlier died at the age of 84 . BBC Radio 2 broadcast a tribute to Fripp , which ended with David Bowie ' s song " Heroes " , which features the guitar playing of Fripp ' s brother ' s son , Robert Fripp ; in this show , the guitarist shared recorded interviews with his " Uncle Bill " .