Alfred Burke Thompson was born on August 8, 1915, at Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada,[1] a small town on Georgian Bay about 82 miles (132 km) north of Toronto.
At the time of Thompson's birth, his father, aged 53, was the sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (or MLA, known today as MPP) for the riding of Simcoe Centre.
[7][8] Thompson's first experience of military life was in April 1933, at the age of 17, when he enlisted as a part-time reservist in The Simcoe Foresters, a local infantry unit of the Canadian Non-Permanent Active Militia in which his father too had once served.
[12] The RAF, however, was expanding in the face of the threat posed by Nazi Germany, providing another option for young air-minded Canadians like Thompson.
(Allen John Blackwell of Penetanguishene, a longtime friend of Thompson's who had grown up on the same street, was another Canadian who, in 1937, joined the RAF as an officer and pilot trainee.)
Thompson, under RAF sponsorship, began elementary flight training at a civil flying school in Hamble, Hampshire, in late December 1936.
[22] In July 1938, 102 Squadron moved to RAF Driffield, Yorkshire, where in October it began conversion to the twin-engined Whitley Mk III, which by the standards of the day was a modern heavy bomber.
[27][28] Several hours into the trip, Thompson's aircraft developed engine trouble and was unable to maintain altitude.
[29][30] Because the pilots were not able to make a forced landing (given that the earth's surface could not be clearly seen in the night's darkness), all five crewmen safely parachuted to the ground near Kassel, Germany.
He was subsequently, over time, held at various PoW camps, ultimately ending up at Stalag Luft 3 near Sagan, Germany (today Żagań, Poland).
[36] The Canadian Red Cross Society, to ameliorate the hardships of life in a PoW camp, almost immediately began dispatching parcels to Thompson.
"[37] By February 1942, the Red Cross was sending him eight parcels of food each month to supplement his prison camp diet.
[40] Also on that latter date (Dec. 21, 1940), which marked the expiration of four years from the effective date of his short service commission, Thompson was “transferred to the Reserve and retained on the Active List.”[41] On November 24, 1944, he was in effect transferred from the RAF to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) – that is, he “relinquished” his RAF commission upon appointment to the RCAF as a flight lieutenant.
[42][43] The most notable event in which Thompson was involved during his years in captivity was the mass escape of PoWs from the Stalag Luft 3 prison camp, an event that was later dubbed ‘the Great Escape.’ Through meticulous planning, ingenuity, determination and much hard work, the PoWs over eleven months had dug a tunnel a distance of 336 horizontal feet (102 m), reaching out of the camp.
[44] The plan was for 200 PoWs to break out that night; but in the midst of the escape, due to problems and delays that were experienced, this was reduced to a maximum of about 100.
[46] Once he was clear of the tunnel, Thompson quickly – as he had planned – paired up with Flight Lieutenant Bill Cameron, a fellow Canadian.
The following night, they continued moving and soon came across two British escapees, Flight Lieutenants Brian Evans and Charles ("Chaz") Hall, and joined up with them.
In the aftermath of the escape, the Gestapo, acting on an order that had originated with Hitler himself, shot to death 50 of the 73 recaptured officers (including six Canadians).
In Toronto on June 17, 1946, Thompson married Nora Kathleen Jackson, who was herself a war veteran having served in the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (or WRCNS).