大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the site by the 大象传媒's Peoples War Team in the East Midlands with Pauline Pringles permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

This is the story of John McIntyre submitted by Pauline Pringle (nee Kaye) on his behalf.

My cousins husband, Captain Rev. John McIntyre C.F. No. 76070 1/7 Queens regiment, was captured at Dunkirk and spent the rest of the war as a P.O.W. Both of these stories concern him.

Sometime later my father, who was a major in the Home Guard, decided to send Mac, (as he was known) his first world war great coat (known as a British warm) as he thought it would be useful and it had been just packed away in a trunk with his captains uniform. He never heard from Mac and felt a bit miffed - but it all became clear after the war when Mac came home and told him what had happened. He had received the coat but had not acknowledged it as he didn鈥檛 want to draw the Germans attention to it, because it was cut up, dyed, made into a German uniform and another POW escaped in it.

During his captivity, Mac was corresponding with his wife Muriel, when his letters began to become very strange and Muriel thought the stress of being a prisoner was affecting his mind. She brought one of his letters to my father, who passed it on to his C.O. who passed it on to the war office. Apparently Mac was trying to warning the W.O. (in the hope that Muriel would do exactly as she did) that there were spies planted in the camp. After that all the letters received by Muriel she took up to the W.O. I only knew one of the messages, I believe it was the first, when he mentioned about Muriel having problems with the casement curtains, which puzzled Muriel as they didn鈥檛 have casement windows, but it was a reference to Sir Roger Casement who has been a traitor in the first world war.

Mac was mentioned in the dispatches 21st February 1946 and was made and honorary chaplin

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