264924 Pte. Harry Robert Winnals British Army Pioneer Corps from:81 Clive Road, London My Grandfather Harry Winnals signed up for the BEF on 3rd of October 1939 and I have a copy of his Attestation certificate showing this. I do not know where he completed his training but I have a B E Follies programme dated Saturday 16th of December 1939 from the Theatre Municipal Amiens so I presume he was in attendance there. According to the Programme there were 26 acts including Bish and His Boys, Bill Cooper The Silent Man, William Shirlaw The Scottish Singer Alec Scougal and RSM Speary and Gibson amongst others.
I understand that he drove Petrol tankers whilst in France and never had any sort of firearm.
He was captured on his way to Dunkirk I believe.
From his many (sanitised for young ears) stories after Sunday dinner he mentioned that he got caught because he reached a river and couldn't swim.
He then finally entered up at Stalag XXB but I do not know when.
I have a large amount of Postkarte and Letters that he sent to my Grandmother and the earliest one I have is dated Jan 1941 but I'm sure he was there prior to that.
He mentioned he worked on a farm as it got him out of the camp and to prove his worth he had to milk a cow after saying he had farming experience.
In his own words he said he had never seen a cow let alone milk it. Luckily the farmer's daughter realised this and helped him out thus enabling him to work there.
I know no other information about his stay apart from all his diaries he kept after the war. The only birthday he put in every year was this girls. Whilst a PoW in 1943 his wife (my Grandmother) died of an illness and I have no letters from then.
He also talked about being on the long march when the Russians advanced .
My Grandfather had a long scar on his nose which he said was when he got caught in a knife fight between 2 Russian PoWs and he said a German guard applied pressure on it until he could receive medical attention. I cannot recall anything else he said and when he came home in May 1945, a few months later, he remarried my Nan Violet who is still alive to this day.
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