'Bush' Parker: The Escapist (Part 1)
In another escape-themed blog, I look at the wartime exploits of Vincent 'Bush' Parker. A schoolboy magician and former assistant to an illusionist, Parker was a Battle of Britain pilot. After getting shot down over the English Channel and taken captive, he became a prisoner-of-war in Germany. A persistent and audacious escaper, Parker spent time in various POW camps, until he ended up in Oflag IVC, Colditz. There, his magic skills boosted morale and played a key role in many escape attempts.
See my blog, 'Never in the field of human conflict...": a magician is one of the few', to read more about 'Bush' Parker's background as a magician and his time with the R.A.F. before he was captured.
'In the bag'
Prime Minister Winston Churchill described the 15 August 1940 as "one of the greatest days in history", as it proved to be the most decisive day in the Battle of Britain. Unfortunately, for Pilot Officer Vincent Parker, it was also the day that his Spitfire was shot down, forcing him to bail out over the English Channel.
Pilot Officer Vincent 'Bush' Parker
(Source: Parker Family)
Dulag Luft (Oberursel)
After being rescued from the Channel by the Germans, and taken prisoner, Pilot Officer Parker was flown from France to Germany. His destination was Dulag Luft (Oberursel), an interrogation and processing camp for captured air crew, near Frankfurt. After three days of solitary confinement and interrogation, he was moved into the main camp, to live with the other Allied prisoners.
One of the first individuals Parker met in the camp was probably Lieutenant Commander John Casson. While most prisoners only spent a few days, weeks or months in Dulag Luft, before being moved on to other camps, Casson was a member of the 'permanent staff'. Along with twenty or so others, he ran the camp inside the wire, helping newly captured prisoners settle in, and acting as liaison with the German commandant and his staff. Casson was captured in Norway in June 1940, a couple of months before Parker arrived. Coincidentally, Casson was a keen amateur magician and a member of The Magic Circle, a London-based club for magicians. Given Parker's background and interest in magic, the pair no doubt bonded quickly.
To entertain their fellow captives, Parker and Casson performed ad hoc magic shows. Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Buckley, a born comedian who occupied much of his time in captivity writing comic sketches, would often join them. (Buckley led the Escape Committee at Oberursel and later at Stalag Luft I and III). Naval Lieutenant Peter Butterworth (later of 'Carry On'-series fame) and other amateur performers would also help put on the shows. There was no purpose-built theatre at Oberursel, so they improvised stages at the ends of the timber barrack blocks.
But, while practicing magic tricks may have filled some of Parker's time, he quickly turned his attention to the more serious matter of escaping.
Dulag Luft (Oberursel)
(Source: Public domain)
Escape 1 (tunnel)
Parker's first escape attempt was led by Dulag Luft's permanent staff. He was one of the few transiting prisoners to be allowed to join them. Just outside the camp's wire perimeter fence was a dry ditch with a small bridge over it. The prisoners (including Squadron Leader Roger Bushell who later masterminded the Great Escape at Stalag Luft III) believed they could dig a tunnel that would break through just below the bridge. Once in the ditch, which would provide them with good cover, they could make their escapes. It was a simple plan, but it failed miserably. The water table proved higher than expected and the tunnellers found themselves clawing through mud, which they couldn't shore up. After only a few weeks of digging, they gave up.
Escape 2 (tunnel)
Having gained some experience of tunnelling, Parker and the permanents started digging another tunnel. The entrance for this was under the bed of the Senior British Officer, Wing Commander Harry Day. Sadly, it was discovered by the Germans guards, during one of their regular inspections of the barrack blocks.
In the spring of 1941, the permanents decided to have another go at digging out their first tunnel. Over several weeks they successfully completed the tunnel and in June, seventeen officers managed to escape Dulag Luft (Oberursel). This was the first mass escape of World War Two by British POWs, and the first tunnel constructed to be completed and used.
But, unfortunately, due to "having rows with the Germans", Parker was moved to Stalag Luft I in February 1941, missing out on the opportunity to join that notable escape.
Stalag Luft I (Barth)
Stalag Luft I was a POW camp located in northern Germany, near Barth, on the Baltic Sea. When Parker arrived at the camp, there was already an active escape committee. Lieutenant Commander Peter Fanshawe, who had been shot down with John Casson, was one of the tunnelling team leaders. The would-be escapers were later bolstered by the arrival of some of the escapers from the permanent staff at Dulag Luft (Oberursel), all of whom had been recaptured and then transferred to other camps.
'Bush' Parker was a particularly active escaper at Stalag Luft I, attempting four different escapes.
Stalag Luft I
(Source: Public domain)
Escape 3 (tunnel)
In May 1941, after only three months imprisoned in Stalag Luft I, Parker attempted to break out through a tunnel. The tunnel had been started by Fanshawe and his colleagues, but Parker was probably involved in completing it. He managed to escape the camp only to be quickly recaptured and given fourteen days in solitary confinement before being allowed back into the main camp.
Escape 4 (tunnel)
Parker involved himself in digging another tunnel through the summer of 1941, with the escape planned for October 1941 (after which time the harsh weather of northern Germany made escaping impractical). The tunnel was completed and Flight Lieutenant John Shore escaped from it first. Pilot Officer 'Jimmy' James followed Shore out of the tunnel, with Parker and three others scheduled to follow them four hours later. Disaster struck when Jimmy James was spotted by the Germans and the escape foiled. Although this must have been massively disappointing for Parker, his morale was boosted when news came that Shore made it safely to neutral Sweden.
Escape 5 (wire)
Despite the cold German winter, Parker tried another escape in January 1942, making use of the snow covering the ground. During a rugby session in a field adjoining the camp, Parker went into the scrum (covering him from the view of the German guards) and lay down in a shallow depression. The rest of the prisoners piled snow on top of him, so he was hidden. Wearing escape clothing and carrying false papers and various escape supplies, his plan was to lie still until the evening darkness came, then crawl to the perimeter wire, cut through it, and escape. He managed to remain undetected for several hours, but an observant guard noticed the steam rising from where his warm and wet body was condensing in the cool night air. Along with frostbite, Parker was given 28 days in the cells for this escape attempt.
Escape 6 (gate walk out)
In an even more audacious escape attempt, sometime in early March 1942, as the escape season was restarting, Parker dressed up as a guard and walked straight out through the camp's gates. Parker bore a passing resemblance to 'Charlie' (real name Karl Piltz), who was a Unteroffizer (Corporal) in the Abwehr (military intelligence) department of Stalag Luft I. Although Parker's disguise fooled the gate sentries (helped by the fact it was evening time), after leaving the camp, he headed into the nearby woods, only to bump into Charlie, the man he was impersonating. Fourteen days in the cells followed, after which Parker was transferred to Stalag Luft III.
As well as trying to escape himself (and keeping up morale with his magic tricks), Parker supported other escapers in various ways. These included acting as a 'ghost'. This is when a prisoner hides within a camp for a length of time sufficient for the captor to conclude that the individual had escaped and therefore amend their records. Then, when a prisoner really escapes, the ghost comes out of hiding and takes their place for roll calls, giving the escapee more time to get away. Parker and a colleague hid for six weeks, mainly hiding in the roof of one of the huts, until they were found by the Germans. He also started manufacturing compasses to be used by escapers in their get-aways. He made these from shards cut from a razor blade and magnetised by a magnet taken from the back of one of the camp's loudspeakers. When John Shore escaped to Sweden, he did so aided by one of 'Bush' Parker's homemade compasses.
Having been promoted while in Stalag Luft I, Flying Officer Parker was transferred to Stalag Luft III in March 1942 (along with the rest of the camp, which closed a month later).
Stalag Luft III (Sagan)
Parker was only in Stalag Luft III, a newly-built POW camp in Sagan, Lower Silesia (now Zagan, Poland) for four weeks. But, he was quickly accepted as trustworthy and appointed to the Escape Committee. He was the nominated expert on two methods of escape: walking through the gate and transport through the gate. If anyone planned an escape by these means, Parker’s role was to review their plan and refine it before it was submitted to the Head of the Escape Committee. That was the theory. In reality, 'Bush' Parker spent most of his time at Stalag Luft III in the cells...
Stalag Luft III guard tower
(Source: Public domain)
Escape 7 (tunnel)
'Bush' Parker's seventh escape attempt, in April 1942, was another tunnel; one of between sixty or seventy tunnels started by POWs from the East Compound in the spring and summer of 1942.
"I started on my own tunnel, assisted by a large number of others, including Flight Lieutenant Casey [shot after the Great Escape], Flight Lieutenant Pantones and Flight Lieutenant Dickinson, but it was discovered before completion".
Ten days punishment in the cells followed.
Escape 8 (wire)
While serving his sentence for Escape 7, Parker stole a key from a door and altered it with a nail file to fit the lock of his cell. While John 'Pat' Dickinson (also in the cells) diverted the guard’s attention, Parker opened the door, jumped through a window and climbed the perimeter fence. He wore R.A.F. trousers and a grey sweater and had no escape equipment or food. Travelling partly by goods’ trains, which he boarded in shunting yards, and partly on a stolen bicycle, he reached Züllichau (now Sulechów) on the Polish border, 40 miles away, in five days. There he was seen and caught whilst climbing into a train going to Warsaw, where he intended to get help from the Polish resistance. Sent back to Stalag Luft III, Parker was sentenced to twenty days in the cells.
Escape 9 (bars)
A short time after Escape 8, while serving his sentence for that attempt, Parker managed to get two hacksaw blades smuggled into his cell by orderlies. With Pat Dickinson, his confederate in the two earlier escape attempts and who was still in the cells, Parker started to cut the bars to his cell window. Despite making good progress with the cutting, the work was discovered before completion.
By this stage, the Germans recognised 'Bush' Parker to be serial escaper and transferred him to a special camp, considered escape-proof, called Oflag IVC ... otherwise known as Colditz Castle.
In Part 2, 'Bush' Parker arrives at Colditz, where he remains a POW for a further 3 years. Once there, he tries even more escapes and uses his incredible magic skills to assist many other attempts.
Related article: 'Never in the field of human conflict...: a magician is one of the few', a blog about magician-Spitfire pilot, Pilot Officer Vincent 'Bush' Parker and his role in the Battle of Britain. Blog link
Related article: 'Bush' Parker: The Escapist' (Part 2) tells the story of Vincent 'Bush' Parkers time at Oflag IVC Colditz and how he combined he applied his magic skills to escaping. Blog link
Related article: 'The Magician of Stalag Luft III' (Parts 1-3) tells the story of Lieutenant Commander John Casson naval aviator, magician, prisoner-of-war in Stalag Luft III. Blog link
Research supported by The Good Magic Award 2021 from The Good Thinking Society
*** AVAILABLE NOW ***
A school-boy magician from the Australian outback, ‘Bush’ left home to become an assistant to a master illusionist. With World War Two looming, he gave up this promising career to train as a Spitfire pilot.
One of Churchill’s ‘Few,’ he fought in the Battle of Britain until he was shot down in a dramatic dogfight. As a prisoner-of-war in Germany, Vince Parker earned a reputation as a persistent escaper. He ended up in the infamous Colditz Castle, a high-security fortress from which the Germans thought escape was impossible.
In the footlights of the castle’s theatre, this charismatic officer used his magic skills to boost the morale of his fellow prisoners. But, behind locked doors, he applied the secrets of stage magic and escapology to the real-life challenge of getting back home.
A remarkable tale of perseverance, courage and cunning in the face of adversity, The Colditz Conjurer features over 55 original photographs and maps. 126 pages.
“He was an outstanding hero among his fellow prisoners.”
- Don Donaldson, British POW in Colditz
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