POW Camp Index

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Prigione di Guerra (Campo) P.G. 78 Prisoner of War Camp    Campo PG 78 was situated at Sulmona in Italy, 3 miles East of the town at Fonte d’Amore.   If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Those known to have been held in or employed at Prigione di Guerra (Campo) P.G. 78 Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War 1939-1945. Adams Walter Russell. L/Cpl. Bawden Sydney Arthur. Cpl. Bedford Robert William. Pte. Bullock Harry. Cpl. DeBell Dennis. Cpl. Dewe Eric Alexander. Dvr. Dyson Des . Sergeant Evans George Edward. Rfmn. Forder Edwin James. Pte. Galliers Charles Henry Francis. Cpl. Gibson Charles Russell. Pte. Harlton Jack. Jefferyes Henry Edward. Cpl. Johnson William Alexander Jenkinson. F/Lt. Jones Donald. Kimberley Walter. W/Bdr Martindale MiD.. Alfred Thomas. Gnr. Massie William. Lt. Masterman Leslie. Pte. McIntosh William Douglas Telfer. Bmbdr. McIntosh William Douglas Telfer. McNichol Ronald William. Miller Nathaniel Frank. Rfm. Motley William Thomas. Parker Alf. Pte. Ricketts Frank Charles. CSM. Roe Albert William. Tpr. Shore Bernard. Gnr. Smith Eric Reginald. Tpr. Taylor Albert Edward Kenneth. Dvr. Tossell Richard George. Twidle Harry. Pte. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List Records from Prigione di Guerra (Campo) P.G. 78 Prisoner of War Camp other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 years. 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If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about Prigione di Guerra (Campo) P.G. 78 Prisoner of War Camp? There are:1 items tagged Prigione di Guerra (Campo) P.G. 78 Prisoner of War Camp available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. Sergeant Des Dyson 17th Coast Battery Royal Artilliery Dad was captured in Tobruk and ended up in Campo PG78 from 6th June 1942 until he escaped in Sept. or Oct. of 1943. He was Sgt. Des Dyson, 17th Coast Battery, RA. I am hoping to find out more about my fathers'regiments' movements. Clive Dyson Add to this record. Lt. William Massie 9th Btn. Durham Light Infantry From the General Questionnaire for British Ex-Prisoners of War the main camps in which William Massie was imprisoned were, PG 78 Sept 1942 - July 1943, PG 19 July 1943 - Sept 1943, Oflag VA Oct 1943 - Jan 1944, Oflag V111F Jan 1944 - May 1944 and Oflag 79 May 1944 - April 1945. On 7th of January 1944, he escaped from a train in Silesia in company of Lt D W March of the Essex Regiment. Both were recaptured during morning of 9th on a goods train in Waldenburg. Heather Massie Add to this record. Tpr. Eric Reginald Smith Royal Tank Regiment Eric Smith enlisted as a professional soldier in the Royal Tank Regiment in 1930. He was at Dunkirk and later fought in the North African campaign against Rommel. He was captured at Mehili, Libya in 1941 whilst with the forward Reconnaissance Corps. Subsequently, he was held as a POW in Sulmona, Italy, then at a camp in Germany, and finally at Stalag 344 in Lambinowice, Poland as POW number 220281. With thousands of other POWs, he took part in the infamous Long March as Russian forces advanced westward. He was repatriated in 1945 and left the Army in 1946. Mike Smith Add to this record. L/Cpl. Walter Russell "Wink" Adams T Trp. Long Range Desert Group Wink was captured 31st January 1941 at Jebel Sherif, Libya by an Italian ground force after being caught in the fire of Italian planes. T Patrol was part of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). Wink drove the Ford 01 V8 pilot car called Te Rangi (The Leader) with Cpl. Roderick and Major P.A. Clayton at the head of eleven especially adapted trucks (either Chevrolets or Fords). The patrol consisted of 27 to 32 men, the principal role of this force being reconnaissance, charting, and intelligence gathering. They were a self-contained, independent body capable of travelling hundreds of kilometres into enemy territory over some of the most difficult and arid terrain in the world. Wink spoke to us about learning to speak Italian using his basic knowledge of schoolboy French. During his time in Sulmona (Campo 78), he was able to speak to the guards and became an interpreter for some of the officers. From what I remember when speaking to Wink, learning Italian and becoming an interpreter allowed him to stay in camp rather than working in the nearby coal mines, a job he detested and felt would be the end of him if he was forced to continue. Jan Adams Add to this record. William Thomas Motley Royal Sussex Regiment William Motley was taken as a POW and held in Camp 78 at Sulmona, Italy (1942-43) and at Stalag 4f Hartsmannsdorf, Germany (1943-45) I was only 6 years old when my grandfather, William Motley, died in 1966 and I have only a few memories of him. Unfortunately, my father also died when I was young and I never got the opportunity to quiz him about his and my grandfather's past life. Although I didn’t know for certain, I had long suspected that my grandfather had been a POW as there existed a letter from the Regimental Paymaster dated December 1942 to William’s partner saying that William had been reported missing and that she would continue to receive an allowance. In recent years I have been able to find out that William was 42 when he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment and that he was sent out to the Western Desert and captured around the 27th of October that year, possibly during the Battle of El Alamein which was being fought at this time. In May 1943 it was reported that he had been sent to Camp 78 Sulmona in Italy and that he was wounded, presumably this happened the previous October. Following the Italian Armistice in September 1943 it appears that many of the POWs in Sulmona escaped. I don’t know if William had tried to escape and was recaptured or if he had remained in the camp, but he was captured again by the Germans and sent to Stalag 4f, Hartmannsdorf in Germany, where he remained until the end of the war. Add to this record. Cpl. Harry Bullock Royal Artillery Harry Bullock served throughout the second world war. He was at Dunkirk, where he was injured on the beach. He was in North Africa under Field Marshall Wavell in operation Compass. On the 5th of March 1941 Harry wrote home to say he was in hospital in Libya, after being wounded. He was captured at Fort Mechilli on the 6th of April 1941 and taken to POW Campo 78 at Sulmona in Italy. He escaped from POW camp on the 8th of September 1943 and was repatriated on the 14th of November 1943. He was awarded the Africa Star on the 18th of January 1944. Harry was posted to the liberation of Norway in April 1945 and drove Quisling's Mercedes for Major J Russell. He was released to class Z Royal Army Reserves on the 17th of December 1945. Paul Swain Add to this record. Dvr. Albert Edward Kenneth Taylor 235th Field Park Company Royal Engineers My grandfather Ken Taylor was in the 235th Field Park Company, Royal Engineers which, I believe, became part of the 50th Division. He was a prisoner of war from 29th May 1942 until 19th May 1945 and was captured by the Italians at Knightbridge, Africa. He was taken to PG 78 camp in Sulmona and while he was there, like most other POWs he kept a diary. In his diary he mentions a man named Harry Kingley from Brighton who he shared rations with to make them go further as they were often dropped to quarter issues and so they had to make do. He writes that while at the camp two lads were shot trying to escape and one died a few weeks later. Further on in his diary he writes "Sept very exciting month Italy coming out of the war. Sulmona bombed by British planes had a very nice view from the camp we allowed to go out. Then Jerry came and we made for the mountains was 4 days living on sheep got recaptured on Sept 17th after great hardships then got pushed of to Germany nearly on the borders of Poland." My grandfather ended up Pilsen where they kept him for three long years and was finally returned to military control according to the register form for recovered allied prisoners of war on the 19th of May 1945. He served almost another year on his return. My grandmother told us that he went away with jet black hair and came back with ghostly white hair, who knows what he endured but I am immensely proud of him. Christine Taylor Add to this record. Pte. Charles Russell Gibson Highland Light Infantry My father was Charles Gibson and he was a Private in The Highland Light Infantry, British Army. He was captured in Lybia and sent to Campo 78, Fonte d'Amore, near Sulmona. After the Italians capitulated, he left the camp with another soldier. They were helped by an Italian family (a single mother, two sons and a daughter) and looked after by them for three months. I only found out about this after my father died in 1988 when we found a letter from the Italian family written in August 1946 and addressed to my mother. They did not know what had happened to him and wondered if he had got home safely. I know that he was recaptured by the Germans and sent to a camp at Moosburg, near Munich. With the great help of the Tourist Office in Sulmona I managed to get in touch with the family, who had emigrated to Canada in 1946. Unfortunately, the son who had written the letter had passed away, but I was able to speak to the daughter by telephone, Isabel Nimmo Add to this record. Donald Jones Donald Jones escaped from PG78, during the Italian surrender in September 1943. He was initially recaptured but escaped a second time and kept going. He wrote a book about his journey, 'Escape from Sulmona'. Duncan Boar Add to this record. Cpl. Sydney Arthur "George" Bawden Territorial My father, George Bawden, was captured in North Africa by the Germans, transferred to Italy and imprisoned in Campo 78, Sulmona. He escaped with a small group of close friends when the Italians surrendered and made his way over the mountains to Casoli, a route now celebrated as The Freedom Trail. Richard Bawden Add to this record. W/Bdr Walter Kimberley 68th Med.Regt. Royal Artillery My father, Walter Kimberley embarked from the UK arriving in Egypt on the 18th March 1941. He trained on 25 pounders and on the 17th December 1940 traveled across the Middle East onto the Western Desert. On 18th March 1941 they moved to Greece until 27th April 1941, the next day moved to Crete until 30th May 1941 when they moved to Egypt ending up at Tobruk when the 68th medium Regiment was lost. He became a Prisoner of War transiting through P.G.87 and P.G.66 before ending up at P.G.78 Sulmona, Italy. In September 1943 evacuation of the prison camp became imminent on the fall of the Italian government and soon after the camp guards left their posts enabling 100s of prisoners to escape. My father, together with one other, managed to find his way back through enemy lines to make contact with the allies. He was then shipped back to the UK arriving on 10th November 1943. While fighting outside a town in North Africa a photo was taken of his gun crew in action. Probably for an army publication. This is now a prized possession. He also, although poorly educated, kept a note book of his experiences while on the run from the Germans after escaping. Even drawing pictures of hiding places. Sadly he died aged only 64 before I was able to spend time with him during a retirement he never reached. He did say that the war was surprisingly a great time in his life. Roy Kimberley Add to this record. Gnr. Bernard Shore 25th Field Artillery Regiment Royal Artillery Bernard Shore was captured at Cyrenaica, Tobruk on the 20th of June 1942 and sent to several Italian camps and ended up at Sulmona Campo 78. After the Italian Armistice in 1943 he was taken to Stalag 4b then to Stalag 8d at Teschen in Poland in 1943. In 1945 he was in the long march back to the west. At the end of the war he made it home to Grandma and his children but was never the same. I've just started to learn about my Grandad's war. I only meet him a few times before his death in 1982 with serious illnesses and Grandma always said he never got over the war and would never talk about his ordeal at the hands of his captors. Kevin Goulding Add to this record. Rfmn. George Edward "Tubby" Evans Rifle Brigade My father George Evans served with the Rifle Brigade. He was taken prisoner in Libya 1st of April 1941 and was always known as 'Tubby' among his fellow POWs. I have the Army form sent to my mother listing him as being missing in action and then a further report dated 11th of May 1941 advising that he was a prisoner of war. He was held in several camps in Italy, finally escaping from Sulmona Camp 78 in 1943, walking the mountain passes and being assisted by locals to reach the allied captured region, this following the Italian surrender of 1943. Together with a fellow camp prisoner, a chap called Harry Short they made their escape and headed for the mountain passes. They were ahead of the coming winter snow but were continually pursued and avoided the German Army patrols who were then very active within the Abruzzi and Aquila regions. Each POW had a price on his head and any locals found helping them risked serious consequences. Even so, these local people helped many of them assisting them by hiding them and generally helping them on their perilous journey. Many of the boys from the camp I believe were re-captured and sent on into German POW camps including my dad's great friends Wally Green & Joe Onslow. I have a Kriegegefangenenpost card written by Joe to my dad from the German POW camp 9th August 1944 describing how he feels being incarcerated again and in far worse conditions. We later learned that if he and others had 'Laid off the Vino, they might be home with Tubby now'. I still have the Italian map he had at that time (very thin & worn) and a wooden rosary & beads given to him en-route by one of his helpers. He rarely spoke of this journey but spoke more about his time in the camps making lots of friends who lasted his lifetime all now sadly departed. I have a photograph taken in the camp and the names of the men are listed on the back. I believe Sulmona was the 3rd camp that my dad was contained within. It was considered I believe, to be a 'bad boys camp' and anyone who had made repeated attempts at escaping was also finally moved here because of its geographical location being regarded as escape-proof. My dad had made 2 previous attempts at escaping from camps one I know was Foggia and I have a Christmas greetings message sent to my mother via the Vatican post listing his then camp number PG 102. I also have the War Ministry form sent to my mother dated 11th of November 1943 stating that he had reached Southern Italy and was safe within allied hands and would be sent back to the UK as soon as suitable transport could be arranged. He later came home via Liverpool on a troop ship with American Army personnel. I believe he and Harry had walked into American Army lines following their long trek homeward bound. My dad died in 1991. Oh so many questions I now wish that I had asked him. Now they have all gone. He made so many lasting friendships from that camp and these I remember throughout my childhood years so many of his friends visiting our home and the Christmas cards always being sent from so many. Harry (Lucky) Paxton, Richard (Chalky) White, Stan Evans. Jock Devlin and another came to visit us after the war on a motorbike, few cars around in those immediate post-war days and several others whose names escape me, I was only a child myself. My dad had left for the North Africa campaign when I was a matter of months old and returned home when I was 4 years old. On the back of the photograph among his papers taken at the Sulmona camp 'A Souvenir Of Pow Days Italy 1942/43' among those listed and names that I can decipher: Stan Blakey RASC, A.E.Judd RB (he was in my dad's company and taken POW same time), Musgrove RA and Hinchcliffe RE. Sylvia Evans Add to this record. Pte. Edwin James Forder 1st Light Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery Ted Forder was one of three brothers from Stony Stratford. He returned to his hometown after the war, working in the International Stores. He later moved to Richmond (Surrey) where he worked for the Cooperative Store (Co-op). I know little of his war service but have managed to uncover that he was reported missing May 1941 at Cyrenaica. It was later confirmed that he was a being held at POW Camp PG 78, Sulmona. He spoke very little about his experience but did say that he escaped but was recaptured by the Germans and eventually ended up in Stalag 4C Wistritz bei Teplitz, Czechoslovakia. Reading reports about this camp, it's no surprise that he spoke very little about his experience and was a damaged man on his release in July 1945. Doug Forder Add to this record. Sergeant Des Dyson 17th Coast Battery Royal Artilliery Dad was captured in Tobruk and ended up in Campo PG78 from 6th June 1942 until he escaped in Sept. or Oct. of 1943. He was Sgt. Des Dyson, 17th Coast Battery, RA. I am hoping to find out more about my fathers'regiments' movements. Clive Dyson Lt. William Massie 9th Btn. Durham Light Infantry From the General Questionnaire for British Ex-Prisoners of War the main camps in which William Massie was imprisoned were, PG 78 Sept 1942 - July 1943, PG 19 July 1943 - Sept 1943, Oflag VA Oct 1943 - Jan 1944, Oflag V111F Jan 1944 - May 1944 and Oflag 79 May 1944 - April 1945. On 7th of January 1944, he escaped from a train in Silesia in company of Lt D W March of the Essex Regiment. Both were recaptured during morning of 9th on a goods train in Waldenburg. Heather Massie Tpr. Eric Reginald Smith Royal Tank Regiment Eric Smith enlisted as a professional soldier in the Royal Tank Regiment in 1930. He was at Dunkirk and later fought in the North African campaign against Rommel. He was captured at Mehili, Libya in 1941 whilst with the forward Reconnaissance Corps. Subsequently, he was held as a POW in Sulmona, Italy, then at a camp in Germany, and finally at Stalag 344 in Lambinowice, Poland as POW number 220281. With thousands of other POWs, he took part in the infamous Long March as Russian forces advanced westward. He was repatriated in 1945 and left the Army in 1946. Mike Smith L/Cpl. Walter Russell "Wink" Adams T Trp. Long Range Desert Group Wink was captured 31st January 1941 at Jebel Sherif, Libya by an Italian ground force after being caught in the fire of Italian planes. T Patrol was part of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). Wink drove the Ford 01 V8 pilot car called Te Rangi (The Leader) with Cpl. Roderick and Major P.A. Clayton at the head of eleven especially adapted trucks (either Chevrolets or Fords). The patrol consisted of 27 to 32 men, the principal role of this force being reconnaissance, charting, and intelligence gathering. They were a self-contained, independent body capable of travelling hundreds of kilometres into enemy territory over some of the most difficult and arid terrain in the world. Wink spoke to us about learning to speak Italian using his basic knowledge of schoolboy French. During his time in Sulmona (Campo 78), he was able to speak to the guards and became an interpreter for some of the officers. From what I remember when speaking to Wink, learning Italian and becoming an interpreter allowed him to stay in camp rather than working in the nearby coal mines, a job he detested and felt would be the end of him if he was forced to continue. Jan Adams William Thomas Motley Royal Sussex Regiment William Motley was taken as a POW and held in Camp 78 at Sulmona, Italy (1942-43) and at Stalag 4f Hartsmannsdorf, Germany (1943-45) I was only 6 years old when my grandfather, William Motley, died in 1966 and I have only a few memories of him. Unfortunately, my father also died when I was young and I never got the opportunity to quiz him about his and my grandfather's past life. Although I didn’t know for certain, I had long suspected that my grandfather had been a POW as there existed a letter from the Regimental Paymaster dated December 1942 to William’s partner saying that William had been reported missing and that she would continue to receive an allowance. In recent years I have been able to find out that William was 42 when he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment and that he was sent out to the Western Desert and captured around the 27th of October that year, possibly during the Battle of El Alamein which was being fought at this time. In May 1943 it was reported that he had been sent to Camp 78 Sulmona in Italy and that he was wounded, presumably this happened the previous October. Following the Italian Armistice in September 1943 it appears that many of the POWs in Sulmona escaped. I don’t know if William had tried to escape and was recaptured or if he had remained in the camp, but he was captured again by the Germans and sent to Stalag 4f, Hartmannsdorf in Germany, where he remained until the end of the war. Cpl. Harry Bullock Royal Artillery Harry Bullock served throughout the second world war. He was at Dunkirk, where he was injured on the beach. He was in North Africa under Field Marshall Wavell in operation Compass. On the 5th of March 1941 Harry wrote home to say he was in hospital in Libya, after being wounded. He was captured at Fort Mechilli on the 6th of April 1941 and taken to POW Campo 78 at Sulmona in Italy. He escaped from POW camp on the 8th of September 1943 and was repatriated on the 14th of November 1943. He was awarded the Africa Star on the 18th of January 1944. Harry was posted to the liberation of Norway in April 1945 and drove Quisling's Mercedes for Major J Russell. He was released to class Z Royal Army Reserves on the 17th of December 1945. Paul Swain Dvr. Albert Edward Kenneth Taylor 235th Field Park Company Royal Engineers My grandfather Ken Taylor was in the 235th Field Park Company, Royal Engineers which, I believe, became part of the 50th Division. He was a prisoner of war from 29th May 1942 until 19th May 1945 and was captured by the Italians at Knightbridge, Africa. He was taken to PG 78 camp in Sulmona and while he was there, like most other POWs he kept a diary. In his diary he mentions a man named Harry Kingley from Brighton who he shared rations with to make them go further as they were often dropped to quarter issues and so they had to make do. He writes that while at the camp two lads were shot trying to escape and one died a few weeks later. Further on in his diary he writes "Sept very exciting month Italy coming out of the war. Sulmona bombed by British planes had a very nice view from the camp we allowed to go out. Then Jerry came and we made for the mountains was 4 days living on sheep got recaptured on Sept 17th after great hardships then got pushed of to Germany nearly on the borders of Poland." My grandfather ended up Pilsen where they kept him for three long years and was finally returned to military control according to the register form for recovered allied prisoners of war on the 19th of May 1945. He served almost another year on his return. My grandmother told us that he went away with jet black hair and came back with ghostly white hair, who knows what he endured but I am immensely proud of him. Christine Taylor Pte. Charles Russell Gibson Highland Light Infantry My father was Charles Gibson and he was a Private in The Highland Light Infantry, British Army. He was captured in Lybia and sent to Campo 78, Fonte d'Amore, near Sulmona. After the Italians capitulated, he left the camp with another soldier. They were helped by an Italian family (a single mother, two sons and a daughter) and looked after by them for three months. I only found out about this after my father died in 1988 when we found a letter from the Italian family written in August 1946 and addressed to my mother. They did not know what had happened to him and wondered if he had got home safely. I know that he was recaptured by the Germans and sent to a camp at Moosburg, near Munich. With the great help of the Tourist Office in Sulmona I managed to get in touch with the family, who had emigrated to Canada in 1946. Unfortunately, the son who had written the letter had passed away, but I was able to speak to the daughter by telephone, Isabel Nimmo Donald Jones Donald Jones escaped from PG78, during the Italian surrender in September 1943. He was initially recaptured but escaped a second time and kept going. He wrote a book about his journey, 'Escape from Sulmona'. Duncan Boar Cpl. Sydney Arthur "George" Bawden Territorial My father, George Bawden, was captured in North Africa by the Germans, transferred to Italy and imprisoned in Campo 78, Sulmona. He escaped with a small group of close friends when the Italians surrendered and made his way over the mountains to Casoli, a route now celebrated as The Freedom Trail. Richard Bawden W/Bdr Walter Kimberley 68th Med.Regt. Royal Artillery My father, Walter Kimberley embarked from the UK arriving in Egypt on the 18th March 1941. He trained on 25 pounders and on the 17th December 1940 traveled across the Middle East onto the Western Desert. On 18th March 1941 they moved to Greece until 27th April 1941, the next day moved to Crete until 30th May 1941 when they moved to Egypt ending up at Tobruk when the 68th medium Regiment was lost. He became a Prisoner of War transiting through P.G.87 and P.G.66 before ending up at P.G.78 Sulmona, Italy. In September 1943 evacuation of the prison camp became imminent on the fall of the Italian government and soon after the camp guards left their posts enabling 100s of prisoners to escape. My father, together with one other, managed to find his way back through enemy lines to make contact with the allies. He was then shipped back to the UK arriving on 10th November 1943. While fighting outside a town in North Africa a photo was taken of his gun crew in action. Probably for an army publication. This is now a prized possession. He also, although poorly educated, kept a note book of his experiences while on the run from the Germans after escaping. Even drawing pictures of hiding places. Sadly he died aged only 64 before I was able to spend time with him during a retirement he never reached. He did say that the war was surprisingly a great time in his life. Roy Kimberley Gnr. Bernard Shore 25th Field Artillery Regiment Royal Artillery Bernard Shore was captured at Cyrenaica, Tobruk on the 20th of June 1942 and sent to several Italian camps and ended up at Sulmona Campo 78. After the Italian Armistice in 1943 he was taken to Stalag 4b then to Stalag 8d at Teschen in Poland in 1943. In 1945 he was in the long march back to the west. At the end of the war he made it home to Grandma and his children but was never the same. I've just started to learn about my Grandad's war. I only meet him a few times before his death in 1982 with serious illnesses and Grandma always said he never got over the war and would never talk about his ordeal at the hands of his captors. Kevin Goulding Rfmn. George Edward "Tubby" Evans Rifle Brigade My father George Evans served with the Rifle Brigade. He was taken prisoner in Libya 1st of April 1941 and was always known as 'Tubby' among his fellow POWs. I have the Army form sent to my mother listing him as being missing in action and then a further report dated 11th of May 1941 advising that he was a prisoner of war. He was held in several camps in Italy, finally escaping from Sulmona Camp 78 in 1943, walking the mountain passes and being assisted by locals to reach the allied captured region, this following the Italian surrender of 1943. Together with a fellow camp prisoner, a chap called Harry Short they made their escape and headed for the mountain passes. They were ahead of the coming winter snow but were continually pursued and avoided the German Army patrols who were then very active within the Abruzzi and Aquila regions. Each POW had a price on his head and any locals found helping them risked serious consequences. Even so, these local people helped many of them assisting them by hiding them and generally helping them on their perilous journey. Many of the boys from the camp I believe were re-captured and sent on into German POW camps including my dad's great friends Wally Green & Joe Onslow. I have a Kriegegefangenenpost card written by Joe to my dad from the German POW camp 9th August 1944 describing how he feels being incarcerated again and in far worse conditions. We later learned that if he and others had 'Laid off the Vino, they might be home with Tubby now'. I still have the Italian map he had at that time (very thin & worn) and a wooden rosary & beads given to him en-route by one of his helpers. He rarely spoke of this journey but spoke more about his time in the camps making lots of friends who lasted his lifetime all now sadly departed. I have a photograph taken in the camp and the names of the men are listed on the back. I believe Sulmona was the 3rd camp that my dad was contained within. It was considered I believe, to be a 'bad boys camp' and anyone who had made repeated attempts at escaping was also finally moved here because of its geographical location being regarded as escape-proof. My dad had made 2 previous attempts at escaping from camps one I know was Foggia and I have a Christmas greetings message sent to my mother via the Vatican post listing his then camp number PG 102. I also have the War Ministry form sent to my mother dated 11th of November 1943 stating that he had reached Southern Italy and was safe within allied hands and would be sent back to the UK as soon as suitable transport could be arranged. He later came home via Liverpool on a troop ship with American Army personnel. I believe he and Harry had walked into American Army lines following their long trek homeward bound. My dad died in 1991. Oh so many questions I now wish that I had asked him. Now they have all gone. He made so many lasting friendships from that camp and these I remember throughout my childhood years so many of his friends visiting our home and the Christmas cards always being sent from so many. Harry (Lucky) Paxton, Richard (Chalky) White, Stan Evans. Jock Devlin and another came to visit us after the war on a motorbike, few cars around in those immediate post-war days and several others whose names escape me, I was only a child myself. My dad had left for the North Africa campaign when I was a matter of months old and returned home when I was 4 years old. On the back of the photograph among his papers taken at the Sulmona camp 'A Souvenir Of Pow Days Italy 1942/43' among those listed and names that I can decipher: Stan Blakey RASC, A.E.Judd RB (he was in my dad's company and taken POW same time), Musgrove RA and Hinchcliffe RE. Sylvia Evans Pte. Edwin James Forder 1st Light Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery Ted Forder was one of three brothers from Stony Stratford. He returned to his hometown after the war, working in the International Stores. He later moved to Richmond (Surrey) where he worked for the Cooperative Store (Co-op). I know little of his war service but have managed to uncover that he was reported missing May 1941 at Cyrenaica. It was later confirmed that he was a being held at POW Camp PG 78, Sulmona. He spoke very little about his experience but did say that he escaped but was recaptured by the Germans and eventually ended up in Stalag 4C Wistritz bei Teplitz, Czechoslovakia. Reading reports about this camp, it's no surprise that he spoke very little about his experience and was a damaged man on his release in July 1945. Doug Forder Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.