{"product_id":"last-man-out-an-raf-rear-gunners-true-story-of-fire-wire-and-the-long-walk-home-1","title":"Last Man Out: An RAF Rear Gunner's True Story of Fire, Wire, and the Long Walk Home","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e \u003ch4\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHis life. Or the man beside him. Sergeant Ron Wade had seven seconds to choose.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the night of 16 January 1941, twenty-three-year-old Ron was about to jump from a burning Whitley bomber over the Dutch coast.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen he saw his navigator coming up the fuselage. Parachute and harness in his hands. Unable to put them on.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe aircraft was on fire. The silk was on fire. The North Sea was below.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRon turned back. He zipped the navigator's harness shut, pushed him out, and jumped after him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHe was the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003elast man out of Z6462\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOf the 125,000 men who flew with RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e55,573 were killed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e9,838 were taken prisoner\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRon was one of the 9,838.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd what came next was harder than the falling aircraft.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLast Man Out\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the true story of the four and a half years that followed: four German prison camps, the camp the world would later know from \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Great Escape\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, a 500 km forced winter march that killed men by the hundred, a homecoming that was harder than the wire, and a postwar Air Ministry that quietly stripped him of the rank he had earned behind it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInside \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLast Man Out\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e you will discover:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe seven-second decision\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e that defined a life, and the navigator who lived because of it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStalag Luft III\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the camp Hollywood made famous, where Ron helped dig the first tunnels.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Long March of 1945\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: 500 kilometres on foot in the bitter winter, with dysentery, raw horsemeat, and SS troops shooting stragglers from behind.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe rescue Ron never talked about\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: how he organised the rota that carried failing men to safety, and the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e25 to 40 prisoners who walked home because of him\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003e15 April 1945\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, Ron's birthday, when RAF Typhoons mistook his column for retreating Germans. A man he had been carrying for a week was cut in two beside him. British tanks were 25 kilometres away, rolling into Bergen-Belsen. Ron didn't know.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe rank they took back\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: how the Air Ministry, after Ron came home half-deaf with a fractured skull, quietly demoted him from Warrant Officer to the lowest enlisted rank in the RAF.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Caterpillar Club brooch\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the one decoration nobody could take from him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTold in Ron's own plain, unflinching voice. Drawn from interviews, newspaper articles, and from a spiral-bound notebook his wife Amy kept for their grandchildren.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is the story of a Master Grocer's son from the Potteries who flew, fell, walked, and came back. A man who, at the two worst moments of his war, turned back for people who could not walk out alone.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor readers of:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMake It Do\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by Ken Cam · \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst Light\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by Geoffrey Wellum · \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Forgotten Highlander\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by Alistair Urquhart · \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTail-End Charlies\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by John Nichol and Tony Rennell · \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBomber Command\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by Max Hastings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is one of the last memoirs of the generation of British aircrew who flew over Europe and lived to tell it. And one of the few places where Ron Wade's quiet heroism on the Long March is written down.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOrder \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLast Man Out\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e today, while there are still men like Ron to remember.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books Prime","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45914452197567,"sku":"7b763846-c783-461f-b97a-bebc96a1d910","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/7550\/7647\/files\/967e6b237bfc09031de78afe6515c1e8.jpg?v=1785058590","url":"https:\/\/books-prime.com\/products\/last-man-out-an-raf-rear-gunners-true-story-of-fire-wire-and-the-long-walk-home-1","provider":"Books Prime","version":"1.0","type":"link"}