Written by Old Bluffer 3rd Jan 2007

Kindly written by Kooshmeister

Archibald Ives, nicknamed "The Mole," is the friend of Virgil "Cooler King" Hilts. Together, the pair make two failed escape attempts from the German prison camp known as Stalag Luft III. Both times, they're thrown into the "cooler" for a lengthy time out, and with each failure, poor Ives is getting dangerously close to losing his mind on account of being cooped up for so long. If he stays in the camp much longer, it's entirely possible he'll become institutionalized, something which Ives fears more than even death.

However, he and Hilts both take some solace in the efforts of Roger Bartlett and his "X Organization" to dig a tunnel out of the camp. But then the German guards discover the tunnel and ruin the whole thing. Even though Bartlett and his people have every intention of trying again, Ives has finally lost all hope and isn't going to wait that long. Zombie-like, he walks over to the perimeter fence of the compound. Noticing him, Hilts instantly realizes what his friend is going to try to do, and runs towards him, yelling for him to stop.

Whether the guards in the watchtowers had already seen Ives, or whether they were unintentionally alerted by Hilts' yelling, is unimportant. As Ives makes a desperate leap onto the barbed-wire fence and begins trying to climb over it, a German guard on the ground takes aim with his machine gun. Hilts tackles the guard, saving Ives, but only for a few seconds: one of the watchtower guards fires on Ives with his own weapon, instantly killing the unfortunate Scotsman. Everyone comes running at the sound of the shots, to find Hilts being forcibly restrained by the guards, and Ives' dead body hanging from the fence, caught in the barbed wire.