I wish I had known about this. I would have participated and retraced my father's footprints. From the Peterborough Evening Telegraph. PROUDLY following in the footsteps of heroes, dozens of RAF crew have paid tribute to their wartime comrades by recreating one of the most infamous episodes in air force history. A team of staff and civilians from RAF Wittering, near Stamford, trekked 60 miles from Poland to Germany to remember the cruel and arduous Long March of World War Two. Their poignant journey echoed the steps taken by thousands of allied prisoners of war who were force-marched westwards by retreating German forces in the winter of 1945, when hundreds perished in treacherous sub-zero conditions. The modern-day expedition was organised as part of an RAF Wittering force development project, and Flight Sergeant Jenny McIntosh acted as diarist during the trip. FS McIntosh, who is RAF Wittering's deputy chief clerk, said: "The poster advertising the project said it all really: we would be retracing RAF history. "The Long March is etched in history and provides an extraordinary story of endurance, determination and courage. "We had the chance to walk in the path of heroes and catch just a peep into the arduous task the POWs faced." Beginning at the site of the Stalag Luft III prison camp in Zagan, western Poland – former home to RAF prisoners and the setting for the famous Great Escape – the Wittering team trekked across country for three days, sleeping rough in the same barns where POWs had slept in 1945. The journey finished across the German border in the town of Spremberg, where a short but moving ceremony was held to remember those who lost their lives in the march. Throughout the expedition, the group were joined by Second World war pilot and Long March veteran Andy Wiezman, who provided an insight into the hardships endured by the prisoners. Caroline Batterbee, a civil servant at RAF Wittering, said the trip had been both a challenging and a poignant experience for everyone involved. She said: "It was very emotional, and when we laid a wreath at the railway station in Spremberg in memory of those who died in the Long March, I don't think there was a dry eye among us. "The prisoners had it so hard in those times, marching for miles in such harsh conditions in the middle of winter. For me personally the trip was a real physical challenge, covering such a distance and sleeping rough at night. But it was definitely worth it."
