Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
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100293
Gnr. Ronald Frank Lancaster
British Army Royal Artillery
I am researching my grand father who was captured defending Dunkirk on the 26th of May 1940. He was then marched to Poland and was a P.O.W until 9th of May 1945. He was a Gnr with A coy Royal Artillery and was a prisoner at camp Stalag XXB in Poland. My grand father's name was Ronald Frank Lancaster. He was welsh and was born 15 Jan '39. He was a short (5ft 4") stocky man with blue eyes and fair hair. I think he may have worked as a blacksmith in nearby farms as a POW.
He didn't talk much about the war but when I asked him how he got a 9" scar on his back, he told me that he and a mate escaped at some point when they had stopped next to a a tree to get some rest. On awakening he tried to rouse his mate but he had been shot. He tried to get away and that was when he was stabbed with a bayonet by the guards.
Ron was discharged on 15th of Feb 1946 at the Savoy Hotel in Bournemouth. He sadly passed away from cancer in 1990 just before I passed out from the Navy, something I wished he could have seen.
I would be grateful if any one remembers my grandfather or if this jogs anyone's memory would they get in touch.