100217 Pte. Charles Edward Fryer British Army 13th Btn. Queens Royal Regiment I'm just starting to research my late fathers war record and so far I have
discovered the following:
His name was Charles Edward Fryer and he enlisted on
18/10/39 and was in the 13th Queens Royal Regiment.
That he was recorded as being held in camp 20B in 1945 as POW number 7929.
The low number suggests to me that he was captured early in the war and from
what he told me when I was young he was in the BEF and captured falling back to
Dunkirk and this number would appear to bear that out.
I also gained the impression that he did not think he had a bad war and he
always had respect for the way the Germans treated them, especially near the
end of the war when the Germans had nothing but the prisoners still got their
Red Cross parcels.
I also remember that my father hated American TV programs apart from Hogans
Hero's (anyone remember it) this he said was near the truth. I know for a fact
that my father could take a lock apart and cut a key to fit it a skill he
said he gained as a POW.
I am applying to get his war record but this will take up to 9 months and I
presume this will only cover his time as a soldier not a POW, if anyone has
already done this can you let me know what information I will get. I also
understand that the Red Cross in Geneva can supply records of POW's, can anyone
enlighten me as to what this will contain and at what cost as at present I have
been told a price per hour but not how many hours it will take.
The information I have so far was obtained from the Imperial War Museum and
they have also given me a list of books which contain references to camp 20B.
As I only got the list today I have not as yet read any of them and so can
not vouch that they are totally about 20B or only passing references.
The list is as follows with the number at the end being the ISBN code:
(Buying books via these links helps to fund this website)
Finally if anyone wants to contact me as regards my comments above or with
information which may assist me please feel free.
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