大象传媒

Corporal in Army, joined 1939 aged 22.
Captured in Tobruk , North Africa by germans on 20th June 1942.
The British Army were fighting to push through the Middle East to link up with Russia.
He spent 18 months in a prisoner of war camp in Italy.
In this camp all they did was play cards from morning until nifgt , with the odd game of football in between . His first attempt to escape was in Italy by helping to dig a tunnel.
As allies moved through Italy he was moved to Stalag XV111 Wolfsberg Austria , before the tunnel was finished.
In Austria , this was a working camp . He was put to work on the railways and in a saw mill. Here he escaped for one week and reached Yugoslavia where he was recaptured by the anti Tito factions.
While he was free he slept in barns and ditches , getting help occasionally from local farmers . After being recaptured he was talken to taken to the Swiss border for interrogation before being taken back to Austria.
In Italy the food consisted of soup and pumpkin pie. In Austria as the war went on it became harder and harder but they were fed by their employees. Latterly they survived on Canadian Red Cross parcels and he remembers eating orangr peels.

By Beth Reid Netherlee Primary School

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