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and began the long journey to bettering himself and preparing for his transition back to free society. He began taking extension courses through the University of California, and earned a trade certification as an X-ray technician, while working in the Alcatraz Prison Hospital. Once released from prison, he lived a quiet life, later retiring as the Chief of X-ray at the Rideout Hospital in Marysville, California. He later authored a compelling memoir of life on the Rock entitled Alcatraz from the Inside and appeared frequently as a guest author on Alcatraz following its opening as a National Park. Jim died on October 6, 1998, following a short illness and was buried at the Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery in Northern California.

Clifford Fish had one of the most prominent careers on Alcatraz, serving from August of 1938 until March of 1962. In total he worked for twenty-four years on the island, serving the majority of his time in the Control Center. Fish retired to Grass Valley, California, until his passing in November of 2002. He remained an extraordinary historian of 1946 events.

Phil Bergen led a remarkable career navigating his way up the promotional ladder of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and enjoyed a sixteen-year term of service at Alcatraz. Following the escape events of ’46, he received a promotion to Captain of the Guards. In 1955, he accepted the position of Associate Warden in La Tuna, Texas, and then was promoted to Correctional Inspector for the Bureau in Washington D.C. In this capacity, he would help to investigate the 1962 Morris-Anglin Escape at Alcatraz. Bergen remained as one of the great Alcatraz historians until his death on June 16, 2002. His legacy continues...

* * *

The Battle of Alcatraz endures as one the most significant events in the entire history of criminal imprisonment. Of all the inmates who participated in escapes over the years at Alcatraz, Bernie Coy was the only one who successfully devised a workable plan to secure weapons, and then managed to use them in his break for freedom. After the escape attempt, the correctional staff would look differently upon some of the more trusted convicts. Even the men who held the roles of “passmen” were restricted from work until stricter measures were implemented. The question of why the three inmates chose death over life in their final hours will forever remain as one of the true mysteries of Alcatraz.

Fifty years after the Battle of Alcatraz, former inmate Jim Quillen, who was barricaded inside D Block during the incident and officer Phil Bergen, who led the assault teams into the West Gun Gallery, met with the author in 1997 to recount the 1946 events from the inside perspective. They are seen here looking up at the West Gallery where Phil Bergen was positioned during the events. At the time, it would have been unthinkable that fifty years later they would become friends and reflect on the events together. Both men have since passed away.

ESCAPE ATTEMPT #11

Date:

July 23, 1956

Inmates:

Floyd P. Wilson

Location:

Prison Dock

Floyd P. Wilson

Born in Chilhowie, Virginia on March 22, 1915, Floyd P. Wilson’s life would begin with a hard luck story which would eventually lead to murder. In the cold winter of 1947, Wilson was a jobless carpenter when he set out to steal seventeen dollars for a ton of coal to heat his near-freezing home in Maryland. He was allegedly trying to support his wife and five young children, and as he would later testify, he was “trying to keep them from freezing to death.” Distraught and cold, he decided to prey upon a young food market messenger who was driving to a local bank with a cash deposit of $10,162 from the store where he worked. The messenger apparently resisted, and Wilson would later testify that everything seemed to move in slow motion as he opened fire on the innocent man. Floyd stated that watched in horror as his victim dropped to the ground in a pool of blood. He was quickly identified as the perpetrator of the crime and soon found himself in a Washington, D.C. jail cell awaiting trial