John K. Giles was born in 1895. He was sentenced to Alcatraz on May 11, 1935 for attempted robbery of the Denver and Rio Grande Western mail train. He had previously been serving life in Oregon for murder before escaping.
On 31st July 1945, at 10:40 a.m., the Army launch General Frank M. Coxe pulled into the Alcatraz wharf. Giles, wearing an Army Staff Sergeant’s uniform that he had been able to steal while working in the laundry that was contracted to clean army uniforms.
He jumped aboard the boat through a freight hatchway below deck. As the boat pulled away, a count of the soldiers on board indicated one extra, and at the same time, a count of the Alcatraz dock workers indicated one missing convict.
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