大象传媒

This story and photograph has been contributed to the People鈥檚 War by the 大象传媒 Learning Centre on behalf of Alfred 'Archie' Derrick's son Kim, with his permission.

My father Alfred 'Archie' Derrick, also known as 'Bean' served in the "Glorious Glosters" Gloucestershire regiment and was captured in the rearguard action outside Dunkirk in May 1940.

In 1994 I visited the town Cassel where he was captured. During his internment for the rest of the war he escaped three times and ended up in what he called a "naughty boys" camp, in Poland. It was a reference to the fact that those who frequently escaped other camps or caused trouble to the Germans were sent there as a punishment.

This is a photo of him in the was taken in 1942 and shows Harold Hastings and his Band at the Stammlager XXID prisoner of war camp in Poznan, Poland.

There is a banner across the front with some music notes on it. Dad said it was the biggest joke in the camp and the Germans never figured it out - it was the music to the song 'There'll Always Be An England'. Dad is the third from right (looking at the photo) bottom row holding a saxophone.

It was very far from the 'cosy' image of prisoner of war camps presented in some television shows and films - many veterans who were interned there vividly remember the cold and hunger.

The men are all facing to the front and Alfred explained the reason for this - a lot of them actually had long hair and/or wore ponytails so they couldn't have their faces in profile. According to Alfred some of the bandsmen may have worn long hair to play female roles in plays.

One of the roles of the bandsmen at the camp was to boost morale and acting in plays was considered part of the job.

The costumes they are wearing in the photograph are cardboard and paper made from Red Cross packages. The footboard also hides the men's feet because most of them had inadequate or no footwear.

When Dad was moved from this camp, he was too weak to take the sax so another prisoner took it and somehow tracked Dad down in England after the war and gave it back to him.

When my father died, my brothers and I found amongst his belongings an article he had written for a major New Zealand newspaper competition after he moved there in the 1950s.

It was about a soldier who attempted to escape during the war and managed to get to the Berlin train station - which I also visited in '94 (used to be East Berlin) - where he was to meet a lady carrying a specific coloured purse.

Just at the time of their meeting an Allied bombing raid came over and bombed the station. After the raid was over, the soldier found amongst the rubble a hand sticking up holding the purse - his contact. He was shortly thereafter recaptured.

What amazed me is that my father had told me this story of his third escape attempt but not my brothers (I used to badger my Father to tell me stories of the war) - they were very surprised when, after we had read the newspaper article, I told them this story was about himself. My father told me he was captured at the train station because he couldn't speak German. By the way, he won the newspaper competition!

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