大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Sue Sedgwick from and on behalf of Derek Poulton and has been added to the website with her permission. Mr Poulton fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

During World War 2 my parents and I lived near Bury and at the time of my story I was 6 years old.
My grandfather was associated with Bury Football Club, which had a games club incorporated in it and nearby was a prisoner of war camp at Wharfmill. Several of the P.O.W.s were allowed to attend the games club and at Christmas my grandfather asked my mother if she would provide a meal for three of the P.O.W.s. This she did. The P.O.W.s were Joseph, Heinz and Kurt. Only Joseph could speak English. The men visited our house quite regularly after that and made several gifts for my mother, which she still has, one of which is a rudimentary lighter.
I don鈥檛 remember much about these visits but my mother told me that she and my father were quite ill with chickenpox and the three men looked after us. Joseph was a good cook and produced 鈥渋nteresting鈥� meals with whatever rations we had at the time.
Eventually the P.O.W.s were moved to another camp and then repatriated to their own countries and my parents did not expect to hear from them again. However she was surprised and delighted to receive several letters from Joseph and his mother thanking my parents for their kindness and hospitality.
She still has these letters in her box of treasures.

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