500634 Cpl. Michael "Paddy" Ryan Army 2nd Btn. Hampshire Regiment. from:Ireland My father, Cpl Michael Ryan, usually known as Paddy, 2nd Hampshires, was captured in Tunisia at Tebourba in December 1942 and was a prisoner in Sicily and mainland Italy until June 1943 when the Germans transported him to Stalag IVB. He was Irish and served in the Irish Army until 1939. After his enlistment ended he went to England and enlisted in the Hampshire Regiment in November 1939 in Southampton. Because he was an Irish Army reservist he was treated as a deserter when he returned to Ireland after repatriation, so he came back to England and married a Land Army girl from London.
He remebered being liberated by the Russians and walking with a large group of others until they reached the American lines. His close friend in Italy and Stalag IVB was Brian Probyn, a tank driver captured at the same time as himself and who become a well known film cameraman after the war, finishing up in Hollywood in the 1970s.
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