Alvin Ward Vogtle (October 21, 1918 – April 10, 1994) was an American lawyer, business executive and World War II fighter pilot born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. He was nicknamed "Sammy from Alabamy" in reference to his home state. In May 1939, he was awarded a bachelor's degree in science and literature from

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, where he was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity, and studied law at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Immediately after graduating from the University of Alabama Law School, he enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. An Army

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

fighter pilot in North Africa during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Vogtle flew approximately 35 combat missions before (on a mission in January 1943) his aircraft ran out of fuel while taking enemy fire over Algeria. He was captured, then moved to prison camps in Germany. He spent two years at camps such as

Stalag Luft III , partof = ''Luftwaffe'' , location = Sagan, Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland) , image = , caption = Model of the set used to film the movie ''The Great Escape.'' It depicts a smaller version of a single compound in ''Stalag ...

, Dulag Luft, Offlag XXI-B, Sagan, Nuremberg and Moosburg. He made four unsuccessful escape attempts and on the fifth try made it out to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in March 1945. Vogtle was the inspiration for the

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

character portrayed by

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

in the movie '' The Great Escape''. His participation in coordinated escape efforts at Stalag Luft III inspired fellow POW Paul Brickhill's 1950 novel, "The Great Escape," which was adapted into that 1963 feature film. After the war, he was employed at

Alabama Power Alabama Power Company, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a company in the southern United States that provides electricity service to 1.4 million customers in the southern two-thirds of Alabama. It also operates appliance stores. It is one ...

as a legal counsel and rose through the ranks to become

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and

Chairman of the Board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

Southern Company Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is the second largest ...

, one of the largest electric utility holding companies in the nation. Southern Company named a

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...

in eastern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

the "

Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant The Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, also known as Plant Vogtle (), is a two-unit nuclear power plant located in Burke County, near Waynesboro, Georgia, in the southeastern United States. It is named after a former Alabama Power and S ...

" in his honor. Vogtle retired to Florida in 1983. He died April 10, 1994, of heart failure. He was survived by his wife Rachel Giles Vogtle and their seven children.

References

Lawyers from Birmingham, Alabama People from Mountain Brook, Alabama 1918 births 1994 deaths Auburn University alumni University of Alabama alumni University of Virginia alumni United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II American prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany American energy industry executives 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American lawyers {{US-business-bio-1910s-stub