Page 17 - RCAF Centenary

Repatriation was chaotic but just over 2 months later Wally arrived back in Canada on Dominion Day, July 1st and he and Betty resumed their lives together, interrupted by the war.
On September 22, 1946 just two days after their first son Brian was born, Floody received the news that he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by King George VI. Part of the citation read ... Flight Lieutenant (F/L) Floody made a thorough study of tunnelling work and devised many different methods & techniques. He became one of the leading organizers and indefatigable workers in the tunnels themselves. Besides being arduous, his work was frequently dangerous....F/L Floody was
buried under heavy falls of sand.....but, despite all dangers and difficulties, F/L Floody persisted, showing a marked degree of courage and devotion to duty.
During the Nuremburg Trials he was called upon as a witness and giving evidence against the Gestapo and SS and their execution of the Allied airmen following the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III. From then on, his RCAF history behind him, he embarked on building and selling small businesses and taking executive positions in trade associations while finding time to be the co-founder of the RCAF Prisoners of War Association
and helping its less fortunate members.
In 1962 he was called on to be the technical advisor on the film adaptation of Paul Brickhill’s non-fiction book The Great Escape which became a block buster movie with a star-studded cast and award-winning musical track. Brickhill himself a RAAF Spitfire pilot, POW in Stalag Luft III and like Floody, was part of the escape operation acting as a ‘Stooge’ but because of his claustrophobia was not picked to be on the list of the over 200 slated for the bid for freedom through ‘Harry’.
‘Wally’ Floody died peacefully on September 25th 1982 and is buried in the Park Lawn Cemetery in Toronto. He left a legacy behind that should never be forgotten.