大象传媒

I was 17 when I joined the RAF as a ground gunner. I was sent out to Eygpt in 1942 as Advance HQ Werstern Desert, next door to Montgomery's HQ. On November 7th, we were sent as an advance party to Mersah Matruh, but the Germans were just pulling out as we arrived. We got into a skirmish on the coast road with the German rear guard. After 4 hours of fighting, we were surrounded and the Germans "asked" us to surrender - "For you the war she is over". They took us up the coast road to Bengazi and put us in the prison camp there. On the way we called into Tobruk and picked up prisoners there as well.

On arrival, we were threatened with being shot because some of the prisoners picked up at Tobruk had pilfered one of the guards bags. If the goods that had been stolen were not returned they would take the first 20 prisoners and shoot them, I made sure I was in the far corner! Luckily, the guilty parties complied and we were "safe".

The camp was a terrible place, but we were only there a couple of nights when the Germans shipped us out. We called in at Athens, but weren't allowed off the boat and then taken to Italy. The first camp was near Bari and then they shipped us out again to Port St Georgia near Ancona. We were there\par about 10 months. The Italians then capitulated but the Germans started taking over all the camps and shipping the prisoners to Germany. The British Officers put their own guards on the camp after most of the Italian guards left, to stop all 3,000 prisoners running amok around the Italian countryside.

However, I did not want to go to Germany I told my pal that I was going to make a break for it and did he want to come with me, but he replied that he was playing cards and was staying put! I pretended to go for a swim in the river at the bottom of the camp with my friend "Cockney", we hid in the bushes and got away down the river bank. We were dressed in the clothes the Italians had given us on arrival at the camp, but our boots were a giveaway that we were British. So the first place we came to we swapped them for some civilian clothes and some food.

We knew that we had to keep the sea on the left hand side of us so we knew were heading south. In this way we walked for about 200 miles and that took us 20 days. After this long walk, we met the British Army advancing up through Italy. They interrogated us, wanting to know what we had seen. But eventually took us back to the Rear HQ. They kept us there for 12 days whilst they decided we weren't 5th Columnists but then decided to ship us home.

The Americans said they would take us over to North Africa on their TLC's and took us over to Bizerta. From there we went to Algiers by train - a horrible journey! From Algiers to Casablanca. There we hung about at the airport with a 3rd priority ticket from the Americans, but eventually we got a flight to Prestwick, Scotland. When we arrived, I was still a suspect and I was kept in a room until they could put me on the midnight train back to King's Cross. At King's Cross, I was taken to a big hotel that had been taken over by MI5 and I was interrogated again!

I was then kitted out again at Uxbridge and only then could I go home to Dewsbury, Yorkshire. But even then, I was taken back to London 6 months later after I had taken a few days absence without leave! They interrogated me again just to check I was still telling the same story!

I missed out on Dunkirk, because I was allowed a 6 months home posting as I had been a prisoner of war.

I was demobbed in 1945 but rejoined again in 1946, but this time in something slightly different - Chemical Warfare - a whole other story......

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.