Choat turned 21 in the Dulmen prison camp. On the same day, the prisoners received clothing supplies to begin the hard labour of building canals.

Choat writes that the prisoners were constantly hungry, only receiving the barest rations of bread each day. They supplemented their meagre rations by picking fruit from trees and raiding vegetable farms.

Choat and some fellow prisoners made two attempts to escape from the prison camp. The first attempt failed, but the second was successful, and Choat and James Pitts escaped across Germany and into Holland.

After their successful escape, Choat and Pitts arrived in England at the beginning of 1918.