大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Plymouth Library Services on behalf of John Powell. The author fully understands the terms and conditions' of the website.

In September 1939 I was called up to the Army - Royal Army Service Corp. I went to Ketterick race course which was a collection centre for three tonne lorries commandeered to the army.

In May 1940 we went to France, I was taken prisoner in June at St Varnier with thirty others, we walked through France, Belgium and Germany where we went by train to a camp.

We were put to work on farms or building. The food was short, breakfast was one slice of brown bread and cheese and a cup of tea. Lunch just soup and tea and evening soup and tea again. The soup was very watery. We received food parcels from the Red Cross which were good. The food was given to us by the farm or building employers.

In 1945 Germany lost the war and the guards moved us from Poland to West Germany. They left us in the camp on our own for a day before the Americans' arrived. We had to wait another three or four days before the army transport arrived, the Americans' took us to a German air base where they set up a place for all the prisoners, there were about thirty of us. We slept outside for three nights, the weather was good and we had a backlog of Red Cross parcels.

We had new uniforms and three days later we could go home. I lived in Weston-Super-mare and I was so tired I went to sleep on the station bench - the guard told me when the train came in.

During my time in the camp I lost four and a half stone and I had increased rations including two pints of milk per day. After three months leave I went back, but had a fall in germany and injured my right hip, so I was discharged.

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