Wally Floody, who surveyed, designed, and engineered the tunnel used by Allied soldiers to get out of Stalag Luft 3 has been called "the architect of The Great Escape."

Clarke Wallace Floody was born in Chatham, Ontario and as a young adult entered the mining industry that was flourishing in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. When World War II broke out he became a pilot officer in the RCAF's 401 Squadron. A month later he had to bail out of his plane and was captured by the Germans.

For anyone who has seen the movie The Great Escape, which is based on this famous World War II incident, there were three tunnels built as possible escape routes, nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry. Floody was the man who oversaw their construction at the prisoner of war camp. In fact, he was considered so vital to the tunnel construction that his senior officers forbade him to join an earlier escape from the camp. He was almost killed twice during the digging of the tunnels, and it was his knowledge gained from the mines of Kirkland Lake that enabled him and others to build the tunnels so well.

"Harry" was the tunnel eventually used for the escape. It ran 336 feet long and 30 feet underground, which many experts consider a considerable feat given the tools and materials available to the prisoners of war.

Ironically, Floody did not get a chance to use the tunnel because he was moved to another nearby prison camp before the Great Escape took place. After the war, Floody gave evidence at the Nuremburg trials and later built up and sold many small business enterprises. He died in 1989.