W.B. 'Sandy' Thomas, D.S.O., M.C. and Bar, Silver Star (USA) was to tens of thousands of men in the New Zealand Division, a fabulous character, a legend. He was brought up on a farm in Riwaka at the top of the South Island of New Zealand, attending school in rural Motueka, not far from Nelson. Thomas's great grandfather had been a colonel in the Indian Army, and Thomas applied for the Royal Military College at Duntroon in Australia. He was declined entry because he had taken agricultural science instead of chemistry at high school. Consequently, this young man started work as a clerk in the Bank of New Zealand but, ironically, the future would find him lecturing at Duntroon. Thomas gained his commission in the Territorials before the war. In 1940 he sailed with the great convoy of troopships destined for the Middle East, but urgently diverted to the United Kingdom to counter the threat of German invasion after Dunkirk. From England he went to Egypt, Greece, and then to Crete. Thomas was left badly wounded and a prisoner on Crete, where this adventure begins. The story of his escape is still as gripping as when first published in 1951. Sandy, 97 today, lives vividly in Australia. George g. Spanos, was born in Athens, Greece back in 1972. An Independent Executive Consultant, an Entrepreneur in Shipping and Publishing, and a Writer, George is always researching to republish inspirational and spiritual works worth knowing of. Sandy Thomas' story, deserved George's attention and care in order to get its final closure in Greece after being published repeatedly as "Dare to be Free" in many languages. www.about.me/george.g.spanos