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Fergus Anckorn

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Britain's Greatest Generation: Episode 3: Fight for Freedom

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Fight for Freedom

Episode 3

Episode 3: Fight for Freedom

BBC Two - Britain's Greatest Generation, Fight for Freedom

A look at extraordinary courage, terrible suffering and miraculous survival in WWII.

Documentary. A look at stories of extraordinary courage, terrible suffering and miraculous survival from servicemen and women between 1942 and 1945.

This film interweaves stories of extraordinary courage, terrible suffering and miraculous survival from servicemen and women between 1942 and 1945. We meet the bomber boys who flew on some of the most dangerous missions of the war. We discover what it was like for the soldiers who helped turn the tide against the Germans - from El Alamein to the beaches of Normandy. We hear from the frontline nurses who risked everything to care for them. And we find out what it took to survive years of hard labour, disease and punishment as a prisoner in the far east. The fight for freedom was finally won in 1945 - only then did the full truth about the extermination of Jews in German concentration camps finally come to light.

We begin with the extraordinary story of Fergus Anckorn, who was once the youngest member of the Magic Circle and - at 96 - is now the oldest. He was captured and taken prisoner by the Japanese in Singapore, then miraculously survived a massacre of wounded British soldiers. He was put to work on the Burma Railway, but - starved and beaten - he used his magic to entertain the Japanese troops, who rewarded him with food which helped keep him and his fellow prisoners alive.
 
Alongside Fergus, we hear other equally remarkable stories, like that of the last surviving Dambuster Jonny Johnson. Raised on a farm in the East Anglian countryside, he was to play a vital role in the Dambuster raid. Another bomber boy, Bob Frost, emotionally recalls how his plane was shot down and how he secretly made his way back across Europe to Britain, to be reunited with his mother who feared he was dead.

We hear some deeply moving, untold stories from D-Day, the great turning point in the war in Europe. Fred Glover, a boy soldier who lied about his age to join the Parachute Regiment, tells the story of how he survived one of the dangerous missions of all. We see rare footage of nurses like Betty Evans - one of the unsung female heroes of D-Day - treating the injured troops behind the lines.

Today, these modest last survivors feel proud of the role they played in helping to win the war. Their experience made them value the simple things in life - freedom most of all.

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Factual: History

Documentary series about the extraordinary last survivors who fought or lived through WWII

Documentary series that tells the stories of the extraordinary last survivors of the generation who fought or lived through World War II

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