 A week later, he was reunited with Codner and Williams, who had used a similar route via Stettin to escape.Williams, Codner and Philpot were the only three men to escape from the east compound at Stalag Luft III and regain their freedom (the so-called "home run").Philpot returned to the United Kingdom on a BOAC flight just before Christmas to be reunited with his family.