- Contributed by听
- csvdevon
- People in story:听
- Fred Lapthorn
- Location of story:听
- Austria and Salcombe, Devon
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A4309841
- Contributed on:听
- 30 June 2005
map showing principal prisoner of war camps across Europe
My father Fred was a trained butcher from Salcombe serving as Private 155880, in the Green Howards.
He was captured and injured and then interred in Stalag XV11B near Vienna. As he was a butcher he was made to work in a nearby village which made things easier for him.
He was released in 1945 and I still remember his homecoming with his hobnailed boots ringing out on the pavement early in the morning. He had managed to bring me a pair of pink pyjamas!
He soon settled back into butchery, working as usual for Mrs Violet Hannaford (my Godmother) in Salcombe.
He never mentioned the war, but would occasionally swear when a piece of shrapnel would come out of an old wound on his neck.
William Lapthorn - son of Fred Lapthorn
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