261974 Pte. Colin Lewis "Jock" Wilson British Army 2nd Btn. Seaforth Highlanders from:143b High Street, Forres, Morayshire In 1933, at age 18, Colin Wilson (1915-1983), a farmhand, enlisted at Fort George. He met Rita Saunders whilst on manoeuvres in Ashdown Forest before WW11 and they wed in May 1945, 2 weeks after his return from captivity. He had been captured at St. Valery-en-Caux and sent to Stalag XX-B, where he was put to work on local farms.
When POW camp order broke down in 1945, he left driving a horse and cart for the fleeing farm owner, Ma Fleur. At some point, he went on foot, hitched rides etc. with one or two other soldiers and eventually reached Odessa, where after a fortnight's wait he got a lift on a Danish troop ship back to the UK in April/May. As he was on deck he acquired a good tan. He was very thin, and could speak but not write German.
He had a cheap set of cutlery which he had found on his journey which he used daily ever after, even when the fork handle had broken off. He brought back a mess tin in which Mother would make cakes. He would never drink soup or coffee after his POW experience. He was a quiet, gentle man possibly suffering from PTSD as he was somewhat monosyllabic once wed, leading Mother to issue him with, if you don't talk and buck your ideas up, we're finished. They remained married until his death from lung cancer in 1983. He did not speak of his experiences.
He was a dairy herdsman, working with pedigree herds of Jersey and Guernsey cows during which for a period of 7 years he did not take any days off for illness. He had 14 siblings and one child of his own. He lived in England and hence was called Jock.
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