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Family set for French trip to retrace hero Stirling WW2 PoW's escape route

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dailyrecord.co.uk

The heroic steps of a Stirling World War Two ambulance driver who escaped capture three times are set to be retraced by his family in a poignant gathering later this year.Frank McFarlane, who spent his early years living in the Top of the Town before moving to Raploch in his married life, worked for the Royal Army Service Corps during the conflict and was first captured alongside compatriot David Ower in June 1940.The pair were caught near the Normandy town of Saint-Valery-en-Caux and joined scores of fellow prisoners of war in being marched through the north of the country which was occupied by German forces.However, Frank and David managed to slip out of the column into a corn field near Auchy, where the pair hid for three hours before escaping to a nearby house and into a cellar.This became the start of an epic journey across France as the pair were taken in and welcomed by various members of the resistance, some of whom were caught and detained by French police for assisting their efforts.

The pair made their way down to Marseille in an effort to get to Spain, but were caught and sent back into France to be detained - with David managing to flee successfully but Frank being caught while on a train.He was then sent to Fort de la Rivere, with the next step set to be detention in Germany, but Frank slipped away for a third time and made his way to Monaco where he met a policeman who helped to forge documents for him.After being picked up by a friendly fishing boat, Frank finally managed to escape to Gibraltar in October 1941 where he finally made his way to safety for good.A group of 16 family members are now set to visit some of the areas that Frank did more than 80 years ago later this year to mark the occasion and to

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