"George Dunbar, RAF veteran and aircraft engineer. Born 9 June, 1920 in New Elgin. Died 24 September, 2016 in Nairn, aged 96 It was a daring plan that took George Dunbar to the brink of freedom – an idea hatched in the wake of the fall of Singapore, as the Japanese pursued their inexorable march across Indonesia. Having fled to Java, become separated from his squadron and struggled alone through the wilderness, when the young RAF engineer stumbled across an abandoned aircraft it offered the real possibility of evading the Japanese. Along with a colleague, with whom he had miraculously been reunited, he worked for days to get the plane airworthy and recruit a Canadian pilot to fly them off the island. But as they finalised their escape the Japanese reached their island refuge and took control, making all Allied airmen in the area Prisoners of War. Word was sent to Dunbar that his mission could not go ahead as, once discovered by the enemy, it would result in reprisals, possibly death, for the scores of others left behind. Unable to have that on his conscience, he sacrificed his chance of liberty and the audacious plan was ditched. Dunbar subsequently ended up as slave labour in a Japanese copper mine, had all his fingers broken by a vicious camp official and returned home to a wall of silence, as he, his fellow Far Eastern Prisoners of War (FEPOW) and their traumatic incarceration were all but ignored post-war. Yet he remained remarkably unaffected by his extraordinary experiences : “It does not pay to be bitter” he said. He returned to the mine decades later, retaining an unshakeable bond with the band of brothers who had shared those harrowing times and supporting them through the Java FEPOW Club. Born just outside Elgin, to Margaret and John Dunbar, he was one of a family of seven, and moved with his parents to Balloch, Inverness, as a boy. After leaving Balloch School at 15 he joined the RAF at 17, a move that not only heralded a career as an aircraft engineer but sparked a lifelong love of hockey, which he played until the age of 88. Dunbar served with No 211 bomber squadron which, on the outbreak of war with Italy in 1940, began bombing operations over Libya. They later moved to Sudan, which he left on Christmas Day 1941, thinking he was heading home after a three-year posting. But the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor and 211 Squadron was sent to Singapore, arriving there in January 1942, the day after Japan invaded." http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-george-dunbar-aircraft-engineer-and-war-hero-1-4257193
RIP George. See he passed away in the beautiful Nairn (Charlie Chaplin's favourite holiday destination)
