Mark Bernard Hebburn
British Army Royal Artillery
Hello There! I have been doing some research into my husband's family history and came across your site when I 'googled' Stalag XXB. My father-in-law, Mark Bernard Hebburn was a POW there for a substantial part of the war, like many of your other participants having been captured in France in 1940. He didn't really talk much to his sons about his time as a prisoner, but from time to time he would drop a snippet of information to me as we chewed the fat with a cup of tea in front of the fire!
It is a great shame that he died in 2002 and took a lot of his stories with him. During the war he was serving as a Lance Bombadier with the Royal Artillery. His service number was 819389 and his POW number at Thorn was 18598 ( I have his dog tag). He told me that for some time during his stay at Thorn he worked on a farm. He also developed acute appendicitis and very nearly died of peritonitis so presumably was hospitalised for some time. By September 1944 he had been transferred to Stalag 3D near Berlin and the photographs I am attaching are from that time. The writing on the back of the cards has been mostly censored. In the uniformed photograph Mark hebburn is in the front row, far right as you look at it. Something that may jog a memory from someone (I am hoping so) is that just before he left Thorn for Berlin Mark fathered a child, Margaret who we think was probably born round July 1945. I would love to find her and her family but really don't know where to start looking. If anyone out there knew Mark or can fill in any of the gaps, I would be very grateful.
