Adam Hart: Operation Pimento: My Great-Grandfather’s Great Escape

Seventy-nine years after his great-grandfather was shot down behind enemy lines, 22-year-old Adam Hart set out to follow in his footsteps. Retracing Frank Griffiths’s extraordinary escape across France, Switzerland and Spain, Adam was determined to discover what had happened to the man he had never met, but had always known as a hero.

In August 1943, Frank was the sole survivor when his aircraft was shot down near Annecy during a secret SOE mission. Seriously injured, he nevertheless embarked on a perilous 1,200-mile journey home, hiding in a brothel attic, escaping through a Frenchwoman’s chimney and enduring a Spanish prison cell. His survival depended not only on his own courage and ingenuity, but on the extraordinary bravery of strangers who risked their lives to help him.

As Adam retraces the route, his encounters with the descendants of those who sheltered Frank bring the past vividly to life. Operation Pimento is a gripping story of adventure, family, courage and sacrifice – and a young man’s remarkable journey into his own family history.