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243982Gnr. John Duncan "JD" Macleodl
British Army Royal Artillery
from:Stornoway, Isle of Lewis
At the outbreak of war, John MacLeod was working on the ship Strathallan, which was on the mail run to Australia. He was 18 years old and was a territorial. He was at sea and unable to respond to the call up immediately. When the ship docked he was met by the MPs having been deemed AWOL!John was sent to France with the 51st Highland Division and was captured at St Valery en Caux in June, 1940. Rommel boasted that he had taken more than 40,000 prisoners that day.
A brutal journey to Poland, largely on foot and including a rifle butt in the face, eventually brought him to Stalag XXIb. John spent 5 years as a prisoner, used as a labourer in a boot factory and on a farm during that time.
During the winter of 1945, John was one of the many prisoners marched through the snow for months on starvation rations and without care or mercy. Eventually, he reached the American lines and was saved. On this journey he and his fellow Scots kept alive by forming groups wherein one stayed awake and prodded the others so nobody fell into a deep sleep from which he would be unable to wake.
John was at home on leave on VE Day.
The experiences of his years as a prisoner haunted him all his life. He married Dorothy Morrison, also from Stornoway, in 1947, and had one daughter. John emigrated to Canada in October, 1951, to make a better life for his small family and was joined by his wife and daughter in June 1952. He died in 1990, 3 weeks before his 70th birthday.
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