Dad built longest PoW tunnel

Jump to: navigation, search

Pat Ferguson was sent to Germany’s notorious Colditz Castle after numerous escape attempts from other prisoner-of-war camps during the Second World War.

Among the PoWs he met at one of the camps in Poland was fellow Derbeian Guy Copestake.

His son, Mike Copestake, a Derby solicitor, writes: “My father was captured in Greece in 1941. He, along with Gordon Butler, had built a tunnel from the first PoW camp they were sent to.

“The tunnel was only a yard or so from the outer perimeter fence when it was discovered (possibly betrayed). If successful, the tunnel would have been the longest ever built.

“As a result of the unsuccessful escape bid, my father was put into solitary confinement for six months, where he passed his Part 2 solicitor’s exams.

“He was then sent to a high security camp in southern Poland. While in the PoW camp, he kept a diary which contains some interesting insights into life in a PoW camp.

“After the end of the war, he joined his father, Horace Copestake, at the firm of Gadsby, Coxon and Copestake, which was then based at 64 Queen Street, Derby.

“He then married Daphne Smith, herself a 100m Wren sprint champion and they had three sons – myself, Ian and Jeremy. All three of us are solicitors.”