140263 Pte. Alfred Edward Coles British Army Kings Royal Rifle Corps from:Hanwell, London My Dad, Alfred Coles, was a regular soldier before WW2 and served in Ireland. He was on Reserve when WW2 broke out, and he went off to France in 1940 with BEF I believe. He was wounded at Calais as his Batallion fought in the rear guard action whilst the majority of the BEF escaped from Dunkirk. I understand he was driving in a Scout car when it hit a land mine. He went to a German hospital, and then spent the rest of the war in a POW camp somewhere near Danzig (Gdansk). Whilst in the POW camp I think he worked in a brick factory. His war ended when the camp gates were opened by the Germans in 1945 and the whole camp, guards included marched towards the west, trying to avoid the advancing Russians from the east. They marched hundreds of miles, living off the land. Eventually they met up with Americans and my Dad was repatriated home. When he returned home, he weighed just over 6 st. He later became a member of the Dunkirk Veteran Association.
If anyone can fill in more details, I would be very grateful as I would like to pass this on to his great-grandchildren
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