Posted on February 5, 2010
Martin Maxwell, 85, was 14 years old and about three months shy of earning a high school diploma when he fled Vienna in 1939. Maxwell escaped to England, joined the British armed forces, became a glider pilot, was captured behind enemy lines and later freed. Despite the horrors he has witnessed he maintains a cheerful demeanour and sense of humour. As he prepared to receive his diploma, Maxwell joked: “I hope they don’t expect me to go to university next.”