Plunkett was the 13th man out of the “Harry” tunnel, having volunteered for the unlucky placement that nobody else wanted, and once he escaped he made straight for a train where he bumped into the escaping Bushell and other officers.
While on the run, 50 of his comrades, including Bushell, were arrested. On the orders of an infuriated Hitler, they were all shot by the Gestapo.
Plunkett, alongside a Czech airman, succeeded in getting into Czechoslovakia where, after several days in the relative luxury of a hotel, they hid in a barn. They eventually got as far as the Austrian border before being arrested.
He endured seven months at the Gestapo’s headquarters in Prague, where he was subjected to torture, frequent beatings, and a mock execution.
In a questionnaire he filled out following release, something all PoWs were required by the War Office Directorate of Military Intelligence to do, Plunkett made the claims about his comrades being betrayed by informants.
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