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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David Reay
British Army
My uncle, David Reay, was a prisoner of war at Chieti POW camp in 1943. He died a few years ago but I still have fond memories of a gentle man of honour. He rarely spoke of his "War", but after imbibing too much, usually during the Christmas period, he would sometimes recount some of his experiences. I think this was his way of giving Homage to those he knew but did not return, as with most that went through this traumatic time, he could not come to terms with the injustice of those that died and those who lived, and therefore had great difficulty in talking about the subject. I had always known that he had personal mementos of the time, and after his death I was determined to rescue them from the dustbin of history as so much has gone before. in a Red Cross supplied booklet marked "Christmas 1942" my uncle recounts his forced march from Southern Italy to Poland where he was liberated by the Russian Army.