204847 Cpl. Robert James " " Cully from:120 Chairborough Road, Lurgan, Northern Ireland My Dad, Robert Cully signed up while he was still underage, 17, in Northern Ireland. This must have been in mid to late 1940 and his father was the recruiting Sergeant! They realised that probably the only way out of Ireland at that time was to join up, my Grandad told my Dad that if things got too much for him then he could show his birth certificate and come out. But he never did that. Where he trained we don't know, but he took part in the D-Day landings, landing near Caen, where he was shot in the leg after just a few hours action. The French Resistance tried to help, but the wound was too bad for their poor facilities, and they reluctantly explained to my Dad that the best thing for him would be for them to turn him over to the Germans, which they did. Apparently he ended up in Oerbke, Stalad 357. His POW Number was 84045. My Dad always had nothing but praise for the surgeon who patched him up, he never suffered with his leg during the rest of his life, after the war he had 32 years in the Metropolitan Police. He died in 1988, aged 64. If anybody knows anything of his time from joining up until the D-Day landings, I and my brother and Sister would be very grateful to hear from you.
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