Donald Pleasance

[alex crawford]

Hi,

I read the other day that Donald Pleaseance flew with Bomber Command during WWII. He was shot down and made a POW.

Anyone know which squadron he flew with and when he was shot down?

Alex

[Alex Smart]

Hi,

I think he was in a Halifax .

Alex

[Wim]

Hello Alex,

F/O Donald Pleasance was a Wireless operator in Lancaster NE112 "M" of 166 Squadron which was lost on 31 August 1944. He became a POW in Stalag Luft 1 in Barth.

All the best,

Wim

[alex crawford]

Hi Alex, Wim

Thanks for your replies.

Alex

[Alex Smart]

Hi Alex,

Wim is 100% correct.

Crew were -from BCL vol 5 -
F/O. E.B. Tutty RAAF evaded
Sgt. R.D. Butcher evaded
F/L. D. A. Wallis POW
F/Sgt. G. J. Kirby POW
F/O. D. Pleasence POW
Sgt. L. Letten KIA
Sgt. W. C. Alderson KIA

a/c AS-M took off from Kirmington at 1320 hrs Target Agenville, tasked to attack the V-2 depot. Came down 9 km ENE Abbeville on main road to Doullens. F/L Wallis broke his pelvis and spent most of his captivity in hospital at Mulhausen.

Alex

Alex

[John Beaman]

A great character actor. He will be missed. Aside from the great horror flicks he did, and, of course, The Great Escape (must have been deja vu all over again!), I thought he was the perfect Himmler in The Eagle Has Landed.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by John Beaman

A great character actor. He will be missed. Aside from the great horror flicks he did...

Not to forget his protrayal of 007's arch-enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, white cat and all!

He wasn't the only British character actor to have been a PoW and then played one: Sam Kydd was another, I believe. A lot of the actors in British war movies of the 50s had seen war service of course: they were the right age. For example, Richard Todd had been a paratrooper in Normandy, before he became a Dambuster in movies.

[John Beaman]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

Not to forget his protrayal of 007's arch-enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, white cat and all!

He wasn't the only British character actor to have been a PoW and then played one: Sam Kydd was another, I believe. A lot of the actors in British war movies of the 50s had seen war service of course: they were the right age. For example, Richard Todd had been a paratrooper in Normandy, before he became a Dambuster in movies.

Yes, how could we forget Blofeld? I knew that Richard Todd (another good one) had been a paratrooper and was in Normandy. It must have really been deja vu all over again for him in The Longest Day! I thought the 1960's special effects of the glider attack on the bridge are still one of the best ever done. Nick, do you know what unit he was with and where he was actually dropped?

[alex crawford]

Hi,

Thanks for everyones inputs.

Didn't Richard Todd actually fight near Pegasus Bridge for real?

Alex

[fsbofk]

After the Battle magazine, No. 5, featured a lengthy article about Mr. Todd’s service during the Normandy invasion. According to the article, he was in the 7th Light Infantry Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division, and dropped out of a Stirling (first man out from his Battalion) in the early morning hours of 6 June. Landing in a cornfield about ½ mile from the planned drop zone south of Amfreville on the east bank of the Orne, he found the CO and reached the Battalion’s rendezvous in a quarry about 10 minutes after landing. His group set out for the Orne bridges, seeing airborne troops on the first bridge, and a burning tank beyond the second bridge. He himself greeted Major John Howard (whom he later portrayed in The Longest Day, and had a reunion with during the movie’s making) at Pegasus Bridge. A good article, wartime photos show him looking every bit the actor he later became, even sporting a handle-bar moustache !