Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell was the son of Benjamin Daniel Bushell a wealthy mining engineer and Dorothy Wingate Bushell, of Mossel River, Cape Province, South Africa.

He was educated in Britain and studied law at Cambridge. He joined the RAF in 1932, and worked as a RAF lawyer. In 1940 he was given command of a fighter squadron, but was shot down on his first sortie over Calais during the Dunkirk evacuation.

Roger made several attempts to escape captivity. His first try was in May 1940, and he succeeded in getting to the Swiss border, only to be stopped by a border guard. His second attempt in October 1941 saw him jump from a moving train. He made it all the way to Prague before being captured again.

He arrived in Stalag Luft III, Sagan (now Poland) in October 1942 and began planning the escape attempt that would became known as the Great Escape. His code name on the camp escape committee was Big X.

Roger was one of the seventy-six men who escaped on 24 March 1944. He was arrested the next day and murdered on 29 March 1944 on Hitler's orders. He was 33 years old. He is commemorated in CWGC Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery, Poland in Collective grave 9. A