Eric Dowling, 92, nicknamed "Digger" for helping excavate tunnels used in the breakout from a World War II German prison camp that became known as the "Great Escape," has died.
His son Peter Dowling said his father died near Bristol in southwest England on July 21, a day before his 93rd birthday.
The elder Dowling played a key role in planning the 1944 escape by 76 prisoners from Stalag Luft III prison near Sagan in eastern Germany -- now Zagan, Poland. He forged documents, made maps and helped dig tunnels. It was one of the most celebrated incidents of the war and inspired the 1963 film "The Great Escape" starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough.
Jean Dent, 101, public health nurse who made sure blacks in northern Alabama got medical care in the segregated 1940s and '50s, died Wednesday in her sleep at her Huntsville, Ala., home.
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