258005 Pte. Stanley James Lavery Australian Imperial Force 2/28th Btn. from:Western Australia As my father, Stanley Lavery told me:
The 2/28th Battalion was surrounded after successfully achieving the objective at Ruin Ridge, El Alamein on 27th-28th of July 1942, and were all taken prisoners by the Germans. We were transported to Benghazi where we were held for 15 days before being transported to Bari, in Italy. We crossed the Mediterranean on the night the Nino Bixio, another transport ship, was hit.
On the crossing I organised the men into groups and assisted with passing water down below and pee up on deck in buckets on ropes. At one point someone called out "is this bucket going up or down!" I replied, apparently in a "gruff" voice, "Taste it and see for yourself!!" (other prisoners reminded me of that story after the war). We were 30 days in Bari before being transported to Udine. I spent 4 months in hospital at Udine with pneumonia and the care by the Catholic Nuns was exceptional. After 12 or so months, when the Allies broke through in Italy, the Germans took us to Austria, Stalag 18A, Wolfsberg, where I was assigned to a workcamp, a brickworks at Trieben until the end of the war."
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