Alvin Vogtle
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Alvin Ward Vogtle (nicknamed "Sammy from Alabamy") was the inspiration for the POW character portrayed by Steve McQueen in the movie The Great Escape. A Spitfire pilot, Vogtle was shot down and captured in North Africa, then moved to a prison camps in Germany. He spent 3 years at camps including Stalag Luft III, Dulag Luft, Offlag XXI-B, Sagan, Nuremberg and Moosburg. He made five escape attempts and on the sixth try made it out to Switzerland in March 1945.
In May 1939, he was awarded a BS Degree in Science and Literature by Auburn University and later studied law at the University of Alabama and at the University of Virginia. Employed at Alabama Power Compnay, he rose through the ranks to become President and Chairman of the Board of the Southern Company, one of the largest electric utility holding companies in the nation. In his honor, the Southern Company named a nuclear power plant located in eastern Georgia after him.
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