My Dad, Charlie Smith, 6895456 Rifleman, joined the Queen Victoria Rifles Territorial Army ‘D’ Company in 1936. Consequently, at the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, he was called up immediately. He went for further training in Kent before being sent to Dunkirk on Wednesday, 29th May, 1940. During late afternoon, on […]
Smith, Frank
Frank Smith POW No-13284 was in the Lincolnshire Regiment .He was from Birmingham, captured in Northern France sometime in May 1940. He married Eileen in March 1940. He was a prisoner for 5 years approx. Frank is sitting at the right end of the front row. He is sitting on the end of the front row […]
Stapleton, Frank
I was a corporal nurse of the Royal Army Medical Corps 168 City of London Light Field Ambulance, and I was captured during the battle of Crete in June 1941. We were sent to Stalag VIIIB, where I helped out in the hospital there. Then, in 1943, I was extremely fortunate to be among 150 […]
Sykes, Roland
You have a group photo that was submitted by relatives of Bill Wells in which I was delighted to see features my grandfather. He was Gunner R. (Roland) Sykes of the Royal Artillery (service no: 1536602, POW no: 10060, camp: Stalag 344 (VIIIB), and he is at the very left of the back row in […]
Tolson, Harold
My dad, Harold Tolson was in the Royal army ordnance corps and was captured in the Middle East / Africa in POW from 1st June 1941 to 3 May 1945 according to his service and pay book. He told me tales how they went to the market to clean up and scavenged the waste veg […]
Vanburg, Percy Thomas Edward
Percy Thomas Edward Vanburg (aka Van or Pete or Peter) from Bristol. He was captured at Dunkirk and transported via cattle trucks to Lamsdorf Stalag VIIIB and later 344. He was a prisoner of war for 5 years during which time he worked on many working parties and eventually was in the Death March until […]
Vaughan, John Henry ‘Jack’
My father, John Henry “Jack” Vaughan, (see photo left) passed away at the beginning of this month, and here is his story: Jack deducted one year from his birth date so that he could join the Royal Horse Guards at 17. In January 1940, the regiment took horses to Palestine and there he rode as […]
Wells, Bill
After being captured at Calais, my father, Bill Wells, a sergeant in the Royal Signals, was imprisoned in Blechhammer. an offshoot of Stalag VIIIB. Here is what he told the Portsmouth News before his death in 1986. “We were at Blechhammer to build a refinery and power station, and we were supervised by a German […]
Wilkins, Leonard
My late father Leonard Wilkins (who died in 1985) was a founder member of 3 Commando who, like Paddy Habron was captured on the evening of 19 Aug 42 at Berneval-sur-mer (from under the cliffs on the beach) and also ended up in Stalag VIIIB at Lamsdorf. My father had previously been a member of […]
Wilkinson, Robert
Robert Wilkinson, of 6th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Lamsdorf from 1940 – 1945. Forced onto The Long March ending up in Stalag VIIa, just north of Moosburg in Southern Bavaria. He apparently kept a diary of the march in short snippets. Kimberly Ragousis who has shared this information has given us permission to share some […]
