An emotive Second War ‘Great Escapers’ campaign group of three awarded to Flight Lieutenant J. L. R. Long, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was shot down during a raid on Cologne on 27 March 1941: captured and taken Prisoner of War, he was held at the infamous Stalag Luft III, and was one of the 76 men who escaped the prison during the ‘Great Escape’ on the night of 24-25 March 1944. Recaptured on 27 March 1944, he was executed by the Gestapo on 13 April 1944, reputedly the last of the ‘Great Escapers’ to be murdered; for his bravery as a Prisoner of War he was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf, in Air Ministry card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. W. M. Long, 38 Stoke Road, Taunton, Somerset’, with ‘ticker tape’ giving the recipient’s number and rank ‘89375 F/L’, extremely fine (3) £3,000-£4,000

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 January 1945.

James Leslie Robert Long was born on 21 February 1915, and was educated at Huish’s Grammar School, Taunton. He commenced his service with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 19 April 1940, with service number 922353, and was commissioned temporary Pilot Officer on 24 December 1940. He was posted to 9 Squadron on 3 March 1941, flying Vickers Wellington bombers as Second Pilot; however, his operational career was to be short.

At 19:43 hours on the evening of 27 March 1941, Long took off in a Wellington Mark lc bomber (serial number R1335) from RAF Honington to attack a target at Cologne, Germany. They suffered with engine problems but arrived at the target and bombed but at 2248 that night a message was received that the bomber was having to crash land in the Netherlands, having had been badly shot up by a Luftwaffe night fighter. The entire crew were captured and taken Prisoner of War near Limbourg, Belgium.

As a P.O.W., Long was interrogated by the Luftwaffe before being sent to Stalag Luft I Barth where he and his pilot, John Shore, immediately became involved in escape attempts involving tunnelling out of the camp; on one occasion Shore successfully broke-out and made it home to England via Sweden. Meanwhile Long, by now recognised as a persistent escaper, was transferred to the new Stalag Luft III in the province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan on 21 March 1942. He tried to escape during the transfer between camps but was recaptured.

The Great Escape
Promoted Flying Officer on 23 December 1941, and Flight Lieutenant on 23 December 1942, in preparations for the Great Escape operation Long was one of the leading tunnellers of the tunnel codenamed ‘Tom’. He was one of the 76 men who escaped the prison camp on the night of 24-25 March 1944 in the ‘Great Escape’, and during the escape he made two emergency repairs to the tunnel due to roof falls. Paired with Tony Bethell, they made excellent progress walking alongside the main railway line to Frankfurt (Oder), but found the trains travelling too fast to jump aboard, and on 27 March 1944 they were arrested by German Home Guard and taken to Sagan police station. Arriving at the collecting point for recaptured officers in Gorlitz prison on 29 March 1944, Long was reputedly the last of the 50 captured escapers murdered by the Gestapo on or around 13 April 1944. He was cremated at Breslau, and his remains are buried in Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery. For his bravery as a Prisoner of War he was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches.

Sold with an original letter to the recipient’s mother, Mrs. W. M. Long, from the Commanding Officer of 9 Squadron explaining that her son did not return from operations over Cologne on 27 March 1941, dated 28 March 1941; an original letter to the recipient’s mother from R.A.F. Central Depository regarding the return of her son’s personal belongings, dated 4 May 1941; and copied research.

Withdrawn