Obituaries are the bread and butter of local newspapers because they are at the heart of the community. I particularly liked the story of a Second World War veteran and prisoner of war (PoW) who was there at the time of The Great Escape.

I can’t help but think, rather fancifully, that his exploits might have inspired a memorable scene in the famous film of the same name. I have always said that everybody has a story to tell even after their death – and this man had a shedload.

I mean he was a POW in the same camp as the prisoners who took part in the Great Escape but he ended up in the Belsen concentration camp, was forced to take part in the march of death, witnessed atomic bomb tests in Maralinga in South Australia and later trained the engineers how to work on Concorde in the 1960s.

And doing an obit is something I take very seriously and I definitely want to get right because it is a lasting record to that person’s life.

BILL Mercer was shot down twice during his career, captured during the Second World War and ended up in the infamous Belsen concentration camp.

The 87-year-old veteran, who lived in Helmsley for the past eight years, died in St Catherine’s Hospice on Saturday and his funeral was being held in Scarborough today.

He spent his early years in Glasgow, enlisted with the RAF as a cadet in 1936 and was stationed at RAF Dishforth when war broke out in 1939.

As a navigator he was part of Bomber Command and flew sorties over enemy territory. He managed to get back home after being shot down the first time – but on the second occasion he was not so lucky.

His daughter, Lesley Wray, said he spent time at Stalag Lufts I, III and VI.

She said: “He said what kept him going in the camp was his sense of humour. He made hooch from potatoes.”

She added he said he had been at Stalag Luft III at the time of the notorious “Great Escape” – where 50 Allied prisoners were recaptured and later shot on Hitler’s orders, but did not manage to escape.

And he even managed to get some of the German guards drunk on his “hooch”. She said: “He said a lot of the Germans were just doing their jobs. They hadn’t a clue what was going on, they just got so drunk, he took their keys and they were incapable of doing anything about it. I think the others used the keys.”

But he was forced to follow the “march of death” to Belsen. “That’s the bit he remembered the most, they were forced to run for their lives through the woods.”

She said the men just had to run from German dogs and soldiers armed with bayonets and her father was scarred for life as a result.

And when he arrived at Belsen he saw the head of a Polish woman impaled on the gate. He only survived by labouring in the fields and stealing whatever food he could lay his hands on.

The camp was liberated in 1945 by British and Canadian troops. Mr Mercer weighed only five stones – he had originally weighed more than 13 stones.

After the war he married Pamela and continued to serve with the RAF, rising to the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

He served in Africa and witnessed atomic bomb tests in Maralinga, South Australia.

Mrs Wray said: “Once he left the RAF he was an instructor and trained the engineers how to work on Concorde in the 1960s.”

Mr Mercer leaves six children, eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.

The funeral was at St Columba’s Church, Columbus Ravine.

From the Scarborough Evening News on Friday, May 25, 2007.