大象传媒

As children we rarely listened to tales about the war; brought up in the early '50s anything which had happened a decade ago seemed meaningless and boring. However when my mother died some years after my father, I was intrigued to find some shoulder epaulettes and buttons in an evelope. On the front of the envelope my mother explained that these shoulder badges belonged to General Messe. After the vicious battles in North Africa, General Messe was forced to surrender at a place called Enfidaville. My father was a military policement attached to the 8th Army I believe and he was the man to whom General Messe surrendered. My father asked if he could keep the badges as a momento, I suppose the General was stripped of his uniform. My father eventually returned back to the UK, safe and sound, to his wife whom he had married in 1940. Whether he then forgot about his 'spoils' I don't know. He obviously relayed the details to my mother and she in turn remembered them all her life and indeed she kept the badges safe through a couple of house moves.
I don't know if any of General Messe's family are alive but I would love to be able to return these belongings to General Messe's descendents. Can anyone out there help?

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