Alvin Vogtle

Alvin Ward Vogtle ( born October 21, 1918 in Birmingham, Alabama, † April 10, 1994 in Conyers ) was an American lawyer, Air Force pilot and industrialist.

Life

Studies and career as a manager

Vogtle acquired in 1939 from Auburn University and a bachelor then graduated from the Law School of the University of Alabama. First, as a legal adviser, then as an employee of Alabama Power Company, he later became Chairman of the Board of the Southern Company. The Southern Company has the important power supply in the southern United States and is listed on the stock index S & P 500 and the Dow Jones Utility Average. Vogtle led the company from 1969 to 1983 and was involved with it during a time of significant crises and periods of growth in a leading position.

War experiences

During World War II he was a pilot of a Spitfire. He was taken down and captured in North Africa. Vogtle (nicknamed " Sammy from Alabamy " ) spent three years in camps like Stalag Luft III, Dulag Luft, Offlag XXI- B in the context of Sagan, Nuremberg and Moosburg. After four failed attempts to escape him in 1943 managed to escape. He had this to overcome including a meter-high barbed wire fence and swam across the Rhine to Switzerland, where he was interned in Davos. His war experiences were, among others, as a model for Captain Virgil Hilts (played by Steve McQueen ) in the movie The Great Escape.

Personal

He was married to Kathryn Drennen and finally Rachel Giles Vogtle and had three daughters and four sons.

Honors

The nuclear power plant Vogtle, one of the most productive nuclear power plants in the world, was named in his honor.