大象传媒

At school we鈥檇 say, 鈥淚 wonder what our husband鈥檚 are doing at this moment鈥�, little did I know that I鈥檇 meet and marry Gottfried, who was a German prisoner of war. He used to be in the Navy but he was captured by the Canadians.

He has told me some horrendous stories. One time he said when they were fighting and shooting, he was talking to a friend one minute, and the next minute, his friend鈥檚 head was gone!

When it鈥檚 Remembrance Day my husband doesn鈥檛 take part. He says 鈥淚鈥檝e seen enough. It鈥檚 been the same on both sides鈥�.

He told me all about what they used to do when he was a prisoner of war. They used to put holes in tins of sardines, and attach them to them -so if they escaped, they wouldn鈥檛 get very far without being heard.

Gottfried said that when you鈥檙e hungry, you鈥檒l eat anything. He ended up in hospital in Scotland with jaundice, and there was an aerodrome next to it. The nurses used to fall in love with them and the prisoners would fall in love with the nurses, he told me all that. Two Luftwaffe pilots told him they were going to try and escape 鈥測ou鈥檒l hear us going over鈥�. He did. They got back to Germany, and a film was made about that escape. When Gottfried told me, it all came back to me.

He told me that back in Germany they were big friends of the Jews; he had a lot of good friends. He even told me that Hitler鈥檚 father was German, and his wife was a Jew, and he went amongst the Jews mixing up with them 鈥� he must have been working out how to get where he got, and then he turned on them. Everybody was afraid of talking because the Gestapo would go into their houses, take them away and you鈥檇 never see them again. Even his own people 鈥� they weren鈥檛 all that good to them. Gottfried said he鈥檇 had enough of it all.

When he was home on leave and when there was an air-raid by the RAF, his mum and dad would say 鈥渃ome in the shelter鈥� he鈥檇 say 鈥渘o I鈥檓 going to bed to sleep. If I鈥檓 going to go, I鈥檒l go. I鈥檝e had enough鈥�.

When he was captured by the Canadians he didn鈥檛 care much for them because they used to take everything off the men, even their personal items. But Gottfried avoided being sent to Canada because he caught jaundice.

He then went to a camp in Sheffield. They were all walking round and round when one lad came face-to-face with his own father. A nice surprise, wasn鈥檛 it?

They were moved to Wales where he was a prisoner of war but used to work on the farms. He made a lot of friends there; the bank manager, the dentist and the doctor, he made friends with them all. They were ever so good to him. But one night, one of the prisoners, who was only about eighteen, stepped just an inch to far forward when he was going to the toilet and our lot shot him. They made a big fuss about that.

He lived in Wales for seven years, then he came to Donnington where he worked on the houses painting and decorating.

I was going with someone at the time - Gerald from Leeds, he was in the military police at Donnington, and apparently Gottfried had had his eye on me for a while. I went to Leeds to meet Gerald鈥檚 mum and dad, and I always remember his mum saying to me 鈥淗e鈥檒l never leave me, our Gerald won鈥檛鈥�, and I thought 鈥淥h!鈥� And then Gerald wrote to my father and asked for my hand in marriage and my dad said 鈥測es鈥� because he liked him. I said 鈥淟isten here, dad, it鈥檚 me. It鈥檚 up to me鈥�.

In then in the meantime, I鈥檇 met Gottfried. I went to work at the caf茅 to make extra money because I was working on the depot, and Vince said 鈥淚鈥檝e got somebody here who wants to meet you鈥� and he was in the back - so we got talking, and it went from there.

My Mum and Dad, Auntie and Uncle came down for supper there; and when he knew he said 鈥淚鈥檒l give her鈥︹�� and do you know it threw us more together; we used to meet on the sly. Gerald was still writing letters to me; I had kept all his letters but when we got engaged, Gottfried made me burn them. I remember having my palm read in Blackpool on holiday and she said 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to come between two. One is fair and one is dark haired鈥�.

Gottfried and I got married in 1954 on the 20th March, and we鈥檝e been married 51 years now.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Becky Barugh of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Lilian Riedel and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Lilian and Gottfried's stories:

• Charlie, Have you got a cauliflower?
• Always the last one
• Some mothers lads
• When you're young

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