Customer Reviews

Under the Wire

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The subject matter for this book sounds grim: Ash starts off talking about life in the Great Depression, and ends up talking about his experiences being thrown into (and escaping out of) German POW camps. In fact, though, this is one of the most thrilling, funny, suspenseful and inspiring books I've read in some time. Ash's optimism, indomitable spirit, and wonderful sense of humor got him through the war, and they're all on display on just about every page.

Ash is also a keen observer--a trait that no doubt helped him pull off his daring escapes, and one that enables him to bring the characters he met along the way to vivid life.

In short, "Under The Wire" reads like a great thriller. The fact that it's all true makes it all the more gripping and inspiring.

When I began reading UNDER THE WIRE, I expected a story of heroic "derring-do", recalled with a sort of misty, stiff-upper lipped nostalgia by a Grand Lion in the winter of his remarkable life.

Instead, I got so, so much more.

Bill Ash's life is remarkable by anyone's yardstick. From his earliest childhood in Depression-era Texas, he was a hero, ready and eager to take on any bully. While America watched as Europe fell to a maniacal Hitler, he made a decision to personally take on the biggest bully in modern history.

Remarkable? Brave? Courageous? Yes, all of these adjectives describe the heroic life of Bill Ash.

But his life, and his story -- told so extraordinarily well by Ash and his co-writer, Brendan Foley -- is also funny, human and a lesson in living one's life with heart and a true moral compass.

There is as much Huck Finn and Jack Kerouac in Ash's war stories, as there is John Wayne.

Like all great tales of history, UNDER THE WIRE does more than offer adventure after adventure (and WOW, what adventures Bill had!)

The book offers a sense of the times, a sense of the politics, insights into the dangers, the choices, the cat-and-mouse existence of a Prisoner of War.

Bill played cat-and-mouse with the Third Reich, and did it brilliantly.

And I have never read an adventure story with so much genuine humor!

UNDER THE WIRE is a glorious tribute to the sort of person we long for, but never really see anymore: a true hero.

And it's a great, entertaining read.

"Under The Wire" by William Ash (with Brendan Foley). Sub-titled, "The World War II Adventures Of A Legendary Escape Artist And `Cooler King'". St. Martin's Press, New York 2005.

William Ash was raised in Depression-Era Texas, where he learned the hard way that life is rough. Those lessons stood him in good stead when he became an expert escape artist from the POW camps of Nazi Germany. As he said, on page 22, his "twilight actives" prepared him by: "...being an unwelcome nonpaying passenger, learning how to avoid the attention of guard dogs or the authorities, sharing food and political discussions with men just as badly off as myself , and sometimes just learning to laugh in the face of everything the world could throw at me." He calls his younger days as "An Apprenticeship In Escapology".

Building on the first two chapters, he then relates the story of his decision to fly for the RAF, his aviation training, first in Canada, and then in the actual combat zone in England during the Blitz. Because of his flying for the RAF, he had to renounce his American citizenship. There are vivid descriptions of London under the bombs, with destruction and fire seemingly everywhere. Then comes the chapter that changes everything: "The Day Of Reckoning". (page 85): "I cut my engine, since it was clearly full of holes and not doing much good".

Shot down over occupied France, William Ash is helped by some French farmers, who struggle with his high school French but help him to find the underground resistance. He is, however, captured in Paris in June 1942, but not before he was able to enjoy the city of Paris as any tourist would do. The bulk of the book, from page 101 (the capture) to page 307 (his return to London) deals with his experiences with German Prisoner Of War system. The Gestapo threatens to shot him as a spy, as he is in civilian clothes, etc. He is "rescued" from the Gestapo by the Luftwaffe, as the German Air Force claimed all air force type POWs as their responsibility. Ash then relates his travels from camp to camp, through bombed out German cities, and finally arriving in a POW camp about as far East as the Reich went. His escape attempts are recorded in detail and his punishments, each time he was re-captured, made him, as the book flap recounts, the "real-life `cooler king'". This book documents a real-life "Great Escape" story.

As a military historian and author, I make it a point to search out good books with entertaining subject matter and well executed writing when seeking reading matter for my own personal entertainment. I am also an incurable escaper from way back, and have never been able to turn down a good escape book. And in `Under the Wire', by Bill `Tex' Ash and Brendan Foley, I have been most fortunate to have found all these elements in one fantastic volume to add to my collection!

It has been a number of years since I have come across such a wonderful story that has held my attention from start to finish in the way as `Under the Wire' has. Remember the first time you read Brickhill's classic `The Great Escape'? Remember that thrill... that engaging excitement that took you into the world of escapes and improvisation? Remember how it felt to be underground, scraping away the earth ahead of you as the words transported you to Germany or Poland during the war? Remember the danger, the adventure, the stark reality? Well, here it is again - all the realism, danger, excitement and, yes, thrill of all those experiences. And in William `Tex' Ash we also have a hero who stands the test of time, equal to any who ever stood behind the wire and longed to be free once again. Told without any maudlin overtures, but instead in plain and straight forward terms in a truly man to man style reminiscent of those of `The Greatest Generation', Ash and Foley present the story of a gentleman truly a breed apart, and like nearly all of that generation, completely unaware of it. His exploits are remarkable... hard to imagine... and yet they are simply the life of a man who will tell you he merely "did his part".

However, it becomes clear with each page that he did much more than that, and that the extra mile was simply part of his generational makeup. It is at once not only a struggle of Allies against the Axis, but the deeper we get into the book we find the struggle of the man against the bondage, as the political titles fall away and the true meaning of freedom is driven home in the simple, yet meaningful phrases that tell the story. Characters and events out of the past spring to life, and long before it is over the reader finds himself thoroughly engaged. I simply couldn't put it down once I had gotten into the book, and it has found itself a spot on my top shelf alongside the favorites I have revered for years and has been read more than once - and will be read yet again; I guarantee it.

This is more than just a book of one man's story - this is the story of one man's adventure, and I am glad that Foley and Ash shared it with us. DON'T pass this one up - you WILL be sorry if you do!

Robert J. Laplander
Author and Historian
American Expeditionary Foundation Publishing

Bill Ash had his US citizenship revoked for enlisting to fight in the RAF in 1940, because he hated fascism and wanted to do something to oppose it. Shot down over France in 1942, his new mission was to avenge the deaths of the courageous Parisians who had sacrificed their lives to harbour him. His plan was to tie up as many soldiers of the Reich as possible in searching for him, and escorting him back to captivity. An unbelievable but true story, told with great humour. For example, he tried to get some men hoeing a field in Lithuania to help him steal a boat to escape to Sweden. The reply came, "We would love to help you, but we are soldiers of the German army and you are standing in our cabbages."

He made more than twelve escape attempts in all, but without a "home run." Steve McQueen immortalised him in the film of "The Great Escape."

I was ill and needed some light reading and found this on the cheap rack at my local bookstore. As one who's best memory growing up was reading The Great Escape I'd read most accounts of those involved. I didn't think a peripheral player in that drama would have anything new or give much insight but I was wrong. His strength was escaping but you read where he probably lacked a bit on the other side of the wire. It's to the readers' benefit.

Ash doesn't waste the readers time with unnecessary personal history but that which he shares is interesting - especially the parts about riding the rails as a college graduated hobo. He was one of the earliest Americans to go to Canada and volunteer. His perspective of his training is unique and you get an Americans perspective of what life was like living in England during the darkest days of WWII. When he finally gets shot down he gets very lucky then unlucky. His account of his interrogation/torture is more detailed than what I've read in most other POW stories.

His time as a POW though is the real meat and potatoes of the story. What's truly insightful and interesting are his profiles of the early escapers. I was fascinated with his description of the original Big X (Pre-Roger Bushell), Jimmy Buckley who was unfortunately killed - it's touched on in the Great Escape. Getting the idea that escape would be easier from an NCO POW camp, he made the switch and his account there provides some original and amazing stories. I thought the NCO's would not have been as resourceful as the officers but this book proved me wrong. The NCO's were some of the most colorful and inventive escapers of the war. Certainly more needs to be written on their experience. Particularly the story of the incredibly heroic George Grimson was worth the book alone. I've had to re-read his story in the book a few times.

One mass escape at the NCO camp was amusing. The POW's fooled the Germans into believing none had escaped, then only those caught were missing and so on until the Germans became thoroughly confused. The POW's even fooled the Gestapo many times without serious recrimination.

Ash's final days as a POW are some of the best, most descriptive I've read and he ends to book perfectly. I enjoyed the easy prose and his is a story that deserves all the acclaim it gets.

This is in many ways a classic adventure story filled with ups and downs, intrigue and danger. If you like World War Two stories, if you like stories from a personal point of view, if you want a taste of a life only possible at a small period in history, give this book a try. This IS NOT a book about war strategy, there is not much blood and gore and there are no pompous lectures about war, truth or democracy. This is one man's story and what makes it great is that it is true and the author didn't set out to do great and wonderful things - he just fought the war one day at a time always trying to do the next right thing. This is a very inspirational book if you want it to be, but it works just as well as a potboiler when you've got a few hours or days to kill. A great tale from a generation slowly disappearing into time...

A wonderful book, and it is NOT out of print, at least in the UK. You can order it from any bookshop: ISBN 978055381711-9

Incidentally Bill Ash still lives in Notting Hill Gate, London, and is still committed to fighting fascism!

The book is in excellent condition, as advertised. It was a gift and he loves it.