大象传媒

Major Lee was a friend of my parent's and when I was a small boy I kept my pony in Major Lee's field. I noticed that also in the field was a huge horse, which was in perfect condition, but was never ridden. One day I asked Major Lee why he kept this horse when no one ever rode it. He told me that when I had finished with my pony to come into the house and he would tell me about this huge horse which was called Verushka.

Major Lee explained to me that during the war he was a member of the Royal Engineers and he was what was called a 'Specialist Engineer'. This meant he had special skills. During about 1944 he was taken prisoner and ended up in a prisoner of war camp in Poland. As the war drew to an end, so it became clear that he would be liberated by the Russians. When his camp was indeed taken by the Russians, he was put into a special group that was taken into Russia, to help with certain tasks, which were part of his specialisation. He recalls travelling east for days on end in a train, until eventually they reached a camp where they were told that they would be working. Major Lee was quite happy, for although he was longing to go home, he was continually told that once certain tasks had been completed, he would be repatriated. However as each task was completed, so there always seemed to be just one more.

Summer turned to winter and winter into spring. Major Lee and the others guessed that the war was over, but as they had no idea of where they were, leaving was not really a possibility. However at about the end of spring, Major Lee said he suddenly realised that in his view he was unlikely ever to be repatriated. He decided that he would not put up with this, so he made his plans.

His plans were meagre in the extreme. In the end he decided that during one night, he would simply walk out of the camp (they were not really guarded) and go down the track to the nearest village. One evening, he did just this, and upon arrival in the village he stole a horse from a farm.

He had no real plan, but in the end he decided just to go west. He recalls riding west for days and weeks on end. In fact it appears he rode for about between 6 and 9 months due west, mostly at night and living off his wits. He managed to steal or beg for food as once he arrived into Poland, as he said the whole of Europe seemed to be on the move. So he kept going west and eventually he managed to get to the French Channel ports. By this time he had made contact with the British authorities and they allowed him to take the horse (which he had called Verushka) back to England.

Major Lee is no longer alive, but I have never forgotten his story. Sadly the fantastic experiences of his epic ride through Russia, Poland, Germany, the Low Countries into France will never be told, but after he had finished telling me the story, we went out to his field. He turned to me and said: "You see, Verushka really saved my life. For as long as she lives, she will never suffer a moments pain, for I owe her everything. I will keep her here doing all I can for her for the rest of her life."

Although I am not a relative of Major Lee and actually this story did not really happen in the war, I felt it should be told.

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