1
25
19
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24284/PChadwickR19040056.2.jpg
558073c4f1ee3878e12c633d12f590bc
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24284/PChadwickR19040057.2.jpg
c71092a08472dc7629f3d6e12dfd8d80
Dublin Core
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Title
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Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
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This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Queen and Roy Chadwick in front of a Lancaster
Description
An account of the resource
Roy Chadwick stands talking to the Queen. Above and right the nose of a Lancaster. Behind them a group of dignitaries and in the distance behind are spectators and a hangar. On the reverse 'A V Roe & Co Ltd, at Woodford aerodrome Cheshire. Allied News papers Ltd Manchester (75820) a number close to this. H M Queen Elizabeth with Roy Chadwick beside an Avro Lancaster Nov 1942'.
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Allied Newspapers Ltd Manchester
Date
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1942-11
Format
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One b/w photograph
Type
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Photograph
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PChadwickR19040056, PChadwickR19040057
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Civilian
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
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1942-11
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22596/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-024.1.pdf
d9fa2a58ac51b1f20f8090cb5b2a4df8
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
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IBCC Digital Archive
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Curnock, RM
Date
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2016-04-18
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Description
An account of the resource
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
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THE
Prisoner of War
[Emblem] THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR DEPARTMENT OF THE RED CROSS AND ST. JOHN WAR ORGANISATION, ST. JAMES’S PALACE, LONDON, S.W.1. [Emblem]
VOL. 3 No. 34 Free to Next of Kin FEBRUARY, 1945
THE FOOD SITUATION
By Maj.-Gen. Sir Richard Howard-Vyse, K.C.M.G., D.S.O.,
Chairman of the Prisoners of War Department
I know well that many of our readers are much distressed by letters from Camps which indicate a lack of food, and I am writing these lines in order to explain the situation and, I hope, to provide some comfort.
By the month of May, we had established in Geneva a stock of some twelve weeks’ supplies, or about two million parcels. Thereafter, while the parcels continued to leave Geneva at the rate of 160,000 a week, they ceased to flow in, because the port of Marseilles was closed, first owing to unfortunate accidents to two of our ships, and then because of the invasion of the South of France.
In September, for fear of being left with no parcels at all, we were compelled to reduce issues to a parcel a fortnight. There could have been no worse moment to do this, with the cold weather approaching, and hopes vanishing of release before Christmas, and it is only too natural that our prisoners should feel depressed as well as hungry.
The situation was further aggravated by the decision of the German High Command not to allow reserves of food parcels in Camps, inconsequence of which some Camps were compelled to consume not half a parcel, as they should have done, but as much as two or even more parcels in one week. This resulted, of course, in the disappearance of the rest of the Camp reserves which had been built up against such an eventuality as stoppage of despatches from Geneva. But, from the latest information we have, it seems likely that this order will be considerably modified, so that, as soon as transport is available, Geneva may be able to establish such reserves once more.
In some Camps, too, numbers have been greatly increased by transfers from other Camps, as well as by newly captured prisoners. The worst instance of this is Stalag 357, which has been swollen by practically the whole of Stalag Luft VI, who apparently were not allowed to bring their food reserves with them. In view of the train shortage which must exist in Germany to-day – and which, incidentally, must be materially helping to shorten the war – it is perhaps unfair to attribute this entirely to ill-will on the part of the enemy.
Now for the brighter part of the picture. In the first place, I want to stress that, while we ourselves are pretty fully informed as to the situation, practically all our news and more besides, is in the hands of the International Red Cross Committee of Geneva, who of course get it before we do. The Committee therefore possess what everyone must have before they can act; I mean Information. The point is, have they the means to act?
As to this, the situation which originally obliged us to reduce the issue has vanished. The resumed flow via Marseilles, plus supplies which are going in via Sweden, is establishing once more a reserve in Geneva. The full issue of a parcel a week can now be resumed as soon as there are sufficient stocks in Camps. It is entirely a question of rail transport through Germany. It would not be surprising if the shortage of this were acute, but as a matter of fact, we have at the moment two reasons for feeling hopeful. One of the principals of the Relief Section, of whom I happened to see a great deal when I was myself in Geneva, has sent us a distinctly encouraging report of a visit he has just paid to Berlin. And the International Red Cross Committee have told us that they hope to get the Christmas parcels to all Camps by the middle of January. In view of the Russian advance it is dangerous to prophesy about the future. (Contd. overleaf)
[Picture of a horse with cart being unloaded by four men] Red Cross parcels being unloaded at Stalag 344, one of the largest camps in Germany.
[Page break]
2 The Prisoner of War FEBRUARY, 1945
The Editor Writes –
At the time of going to press no confirmation has been received of reports that camps in Poland, East Prussia, Upper Silesia, in the line of the rapid advance of the Russian armies, have been moved back into Central Germany. Camps likely to be affected include Stalags XXA, XXB, 344, VIIIB, Luft VII, B.A.B. 20 and 21, Oflag 64, Ilag Kreuzberg, and the hospitals at Marienburg and Cosel. The War Office announced recently that assurances on the highest level had been received that provision will be made for the protection and welfare of all British Commonwealth prisoners of war liberated. The War Office also stated that “our plans are complete and the necessary staffs in readiness for action at short notice.”
Should any official information of a prisoner’s change of address be received, next of kin will be notified immediately; but the chances are that they themselves will hear from the prisoner first.
“Victorious Vanguard”
The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph quotes a French sailor who escaped to Sweden from the Baltic Port of Kolberg, as having said that British prisoners who were being evacuated from camps in East Prussia, Poland and Silesia were in the highest spirits. The sailor said that there was a striking contrast between them and the Volkssturm battalions which filled the roads leading to the front. “As the British passed them they sang ‘Roll Out the Barrel’ and ‘Tipperary,’ and turned up their thumbs.”
The way in which these prisoners passed through the town, said the Frenchman, deepened considerably the wave of pessimism which had swept over the whole of that part of Germany. “You would think they were not prisoners, but the vanguard of a victorious army.”
Welcome to Repatriates
Of the 1,500 British and Dominion men in the latest repatriation, arrangements were made for British and Australian to come to this country and Indian and other Dominion repatriates to go straight home on another ship via Suez. Besides seven welfare officers who went out to Marseilles to meet the men, Mrs. Boyd-Moriarty, representing the Australian Red Cross, made the journey out and home on the Arundel Castle, and Miss Noyes went out representing Indian Red Cross to accompany those men who are to go straight back to India. Supplies of the Arundel Castle included 600 Indian Red Cross parcels for the use of homeward-bound Indians.
“They Shall Have Music”
Gramophone records and accordions from the Indoor Recreations Section were in the charge of Welfare officers on board for the entertainment of the repatriates. General comforts included cigarettes, bars of chocolate, slippers, stationery sets, socks, scarves, gloves and news – in the shape of Sunday newspapers and a special sports summary prepared for the Red Cross and St. John Press Section by the Daily Mail was flown direct to Marseilles.
Theatre Ban Lifted
Last month I mentioned that according to an order from the General in Command, all theatrical performances in camps situated in Wehrkeis (military zone) VIII had been forbidden, though concert and variety shows were still allowed. Readers will therefore be reassured to hear that in his latest report from Stalag VIIIA at Gorlitz, one of the camps affected, the British Man of Confidence writes: “In the middle of October the ban on theatre entertainments was lifted by the authorities and we are now permitted to put on one dramatic show per month, as well as the usual musical concerts.”
Situation Improved
I am most grateful to Mr. W.B. Morrison for a piece of good news which he has recently received from his son in Oflag IVC. He points out that in our December issue the visitors’ report on Oflag IVC stated that the prisoners could only take one shower every ten days. His son has written saying “The past week has been very hot … I spend most of the day getting in and out of hot, beg pardon, cold baths, which fortunately are plentiful.” It appears, therefore, that the situation has been much improved.
Marking Time
Under the title of “Marking Time,” prisoners of war who escaped from Italian prison camps into Switzerland and were interned in St. Gallen, created a monthly magazine. The first cover design showed an “evadé” sitting at a table, mournfully looking at a bottle of beer, waiting for things to happen. The magazine caught on. Its popularity extended far beyond the scattered community of internees, and requests for it poured in from British subjects in all parts of Switzerland. Donations were received, the paper was enlarged in size, and later, when the technical difficulties were overcome, became a self-supporting weekly.
Channel Islanders
A letter, written by a Channel Islander interned at Biberach in Germany to her nephew in this country tells that she was allowed to write to the Channel Islands. The Red Cross ship Vega which took the first batch of relief supplies to the Channel Islands will be familiar to my readers as having carried supplies of P.o.W. parcels on several occasions. Among other Red Cross supplies for the Channel Islands which have been earmarked for the future are 600,000 food parcels, 20,000 invalid diet supplements and further supplies of drugs. These plans will not in any way affect the flow of supplies to p.o.w.s in Germany.
THE FOOD SITUATION (Continued from page 1)
Now I want to ask a favour of you. A curious thing to do, I know, from people who are suffering from disappointment, who are receiving depressed letters from their prisoners, and who, especially those whose men have been captives for years, are full of anxiety.
Many of you work in offices of one sort or another, and know the difficulties of obtaining office staff. We here are suffering acutely from such difficulties, and, to put it frankly, have been snowed under with correspondence etc.
Will you please try to be patient, and not send us enquiries about the food situation until you have seen whether or not my own forecast proves to be justified. We, for our part, promise to keep you informed, through the pages of this Journal, if anything transpires to alter that forecast.
If you will do this, we shall be very grateful indeed to you, and you will be enabling us to reply more quickly to other, and perhaps more urgent, enquiries.
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 3
The Brighter Side
At the Special Request of Stalag XIA, we are featuring this Month Extracts from Their Own Reports of Camp Entertainments and Sport there.
[Photograph of a group of men, most in sports kit] League Champions, July 1944, III Division at Stalag 344. Left to Right: (Back) Dick, Charlie, “Jock,” “Steve,” “Hank,” Ginger. (Middle) Robin, McGinty, “Nobby,” “Tanky,” “Tidler.” (Front) “Jock” and Frankie.
In sending special reports of camp activities prepared by prisoners in Stalag XIA, the president of their Entertainment Committee requested that these might be published in the Journal, adding: “We wish also to thank the B.R.C.S. and the Y.M.C.A. for the tremendous help they have given us.” As a gesture of appreciation the camp music maestro has written and composed a march and called it B.R.C.S. (British Red Cross Society).
Entertainment at Stalag XIA
A sergeant has written the account of camp entertainments. He begins: “On recalling to ins the recent entertainments in our camp, one is struck by the similarity between the presentations here and those that take place in the big cities outside. We in our little world have been presented with a continuous programme, which has given almost the same expectations, thrills, laughter and relaxation experienced by all who followed the seasons of theatreland before the war. Just as the Haymarket in London gives its public that atmosphere and attraction so dear to theatre fans, our ‘Haymarket’ renders full justice to its existence.”
Music and Variety
Music is provided by Roy and his “Music Makers,” fourteen in all, “who never fail in obtaining a merited success.” Fred’s “Haymakers” supply plenty of rhythm, while Sid and his “Mandoliers” give concerts of light music. “Both Roy and Sid have played their own compositions, which have more than shown their ability as musicians.” Variety shows have been “outstanding because the player have that skill and enthusiasm to show their talent in various ways, their main theme being laughter and song.” Vic’s production of “Leilani” transported them to the South Seas the moment the curtain rose on his show, and the audience was apparently “overwhelmed with fun, song, wit and charm.” Then Bob, the president of the Entertainment Committee, produced and presented within three days Bob’s Variety, a show that proved to be one of the best yet.
Repertory Theatre
There is also a flourishing Repertory Theatre, which appears to have “gaiety” as its motto, for all the plays produced to date have been comedies. Pee-Wee’s Tilly of Bloomsbury, which was adapted for the stage from the book, provided an hour and a half’s hilarity, and Vic’s production of The Man Who Came to Dinner was also a success. Spud has produced You Can’t Take It With You – “the antics of the Martin Vanderhof family kept a packed audience in hysterics. We were informed that at times the players themselves had difficulty in not laughing.”
Future attractions will include Vic’s pantomime, Cinderella, and Terry’s The Petrified Forest.
The sergeant’s report does not confine his praise to the stars of these entertainments. He points out: “In every walk of life there are unsung heroes. We owe a great deal to the lads who work in silence to make the entertainment what it is.” Particularly praised are “the sterling capabilities and skill” of Harry and Lew, who backstage ”perform such miracles as you would expect of the fairy with her magic wand.” The report concludes: “Yes, we spectators certainly do appreciate our luck in having such entertainment which goes a long way in relieving the ‘barbed wire’ feeling.”
Sport
Association Football
According to “Onlooker,” football in the camp has been “going great guns these last six or seven months.” At the end of March, Alf Smirk, a professional forward from Southend United, arrived in the camp and took over the Lager XI. His team has played five games against combined “other National” sides and has a splendid record, winning four and drawing one, with an aggregate of 22 goals to 8. The first League run in the compound was won by Staff. The first seven-a-side contest was won by 12C (since disbanded) and the second by Staff.
Two knock-out competitions have been held and were both won by 14A, for whom Alf Smirk plays.
Rugby
Since February of this year Rugby has been played regularly in the cooler months, and, according to the corporal who writes the report of this season’s games, “by praying for rain we have worked in an occasional game over the summer.” He continues: “Despite the fact that the ground is only 50 yards wide, we play fifteen a side, but even with this congestion the backs, at times, perform very well.
“We have players from the British isles and all the Rugby-playing Colonies, some very good, some just good, but all very keen – this last has been the means of keeping the game going. We have had some very good games. The first, South Africa versus the Camp, was won by the Camp. England v. Colonies was won by England by one penalty goal in a very strongly contested match. On St. Patrick’s Day the Colts played England (with Kiwis, Springboks and Wallabies included in the side), for which they qualified, and won 6 – 5.
“Since then we have had various new prisoners (mostly recaptured from Italy) v. ‘Old,’ followed by a series of Anzacs v. Camp, which the boys from
[Page break]
4 The Prisoner of War FEBRUARY, 1945
What to Send Your Prisoner Now
[Photographs of musical instruments, boardgames, books and magazines] Among the many articles sent to prisoners of war by the Indoor Recreations Section at St. James’s Palace are musical instruments, artists’ materials (paints in pans), crayons, plays, books and games. They go direct from this country and from reserve supplies held by the I.R.C. at Geneva.
This typical selection includes new books of every type from the fine arts to Wild West thrillers. Remember all books must pass a severe censorship.
Music is scarce and in great demand in the camps. Clean, unmarked copies will be warmly welcomed by the Indoor Recreations Section.
THE BRIGHTER SIDE
(Continued from previous page)
‘Down Under’ won 2 games to 1. We are most grateful to the Red Cross Society for supplying us with the gear to make all this possible.”
In Other Camps
In Stalag XVIIIA they take their musical entertainment seriously and according to a trooper who writes, just produces a “Cavalcade of Music,” illustrating the progress from primitive music, through the minuet, opera, music-hall, ragtime and swing to the modern symphonic jazz, closing on the optimistic note, The Song of Dawn. By contrast in Stalag VIIA they seem to take a far from serious attitude. One prisoner, writing, admittedly on a Saturday evening, says: “I and a chap from Paddington have just finished dancing the Big Apple, Jitterbug, Charleston, and anything that Fred Astaire can do. I don’t know what the Germans think of us, but they certainly must think we are a Crazy Gang. The noise and shouting is terrific, with a background of six mouth-organs.”
Camp Shows
The Dramatic Club in Stalag 357 have hit on a new idea. They are working on a scheme for producing a series of “Radio Plays” and revues which will tour the huts throughout the camp. The plays are read from behind a curtain of blankets. One is to be a murder play, The Silent Witness.
In Oflag IXA/Z they produced Busman’s Honeymoon, the three “female” characters being afterwards presented with bouquets. Two of these were of a fairly orthodox nature, but the third, for the charwoman, was composed of a couple of large sunflowers, complete with about 5ft. of stem! The lieutenant who has recently produced Hamlet at Marlag und Milag Nord writes: “I have never pictures myself before as a producer, and I have been startled at the result. The audience sat on hard seats for three and a half hours and would have taken more.”
R.A.F. Raise Money for P.O.W’s.
At and R.A.F. station in the Midlands they recently presented a play, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to buying play scripts for their colleagues still in Germany. The warrant officer who wrote telling us of this added: “The total collected was £25 from this and neighbouring stations. Might I suggest that other stations follow suit?”
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 5
The Letters They Write Home
From a Padre
Stalag IVC. 21.8.44.
After a wait of almost six weeks I am now posted to a working kommando in this stalag. As far as the censorship allows I will proceed to give you an idea of the place. Until just recently it consisted of about 1,200 men, but another kommando has been moved here and we now total about 1,800 British troops. They are made up if men from the British Isles, South Africa, and a few from Australia and New Zealand. The men are at various jobs of work and are extremely fit; most of them are very bronzed, walking about in shorts only.
My billet is at the end of one of the long wooden huts, and at the moment I am sharing it with a Cypriot M.O. The room is about 12ft. to 14ft. square. We have single spring beds and a table with a blue check cloth on it. The floor is concrete, which is clean and cool in this grilling weather. The walls have been painted yellow with a white frieze and ceiling. Altogether a comfortable spot! Two windows overlook the compound, and we have our own tiny entrance hall.
Padre Brown is about a quarter of a mile up the road in a kommando of 2,000 men, so you see that between us we have a pretty large parish.
… The men seem pleased to see a chaplain, and as I have at least a year more of service as a p.o.w. than most of them, I am looked upon as a bit of a Methuselah. I tell them that I am a good example of the work of the Red Cross. Bodily fit with the constant supply of food parcels – we have enough here until Christmas – mentally sound through the constant flow of those grand letters of yours and books, etc., sent out by the Red Cross.
A Camp Tour
Marlag und Milag Nord (Milag). 28.8.44.
I’ll just show you round the camp this week for a change.
This is my bunk; twelve men sleep here. Look out of the window and you’ll see my tomatoes. Yes, that is where I cut hair too! Do you like the poster? Over there is the fire pond. See the ducks? They all belong to the inmates here. You ought to see the model steamboats and yachts out there some days. The former run on dubbin fuel.
This is the cinema-cum-galley. There’s a film this week, Hello Janine – all-German talkie, singing and dancing. I went yesterday. Not too bad.
The gardens look well, intermingled with the rabbit hutches and hen coops. All kinds of pets kept here. You’ll see some puppy dogs presently. You get a good view of the countryside just here. This is the officers’ galley and mess hall, which is used for games in the evening.
You cannot go any farther this way, so come back the other side. As we return we pass the hospital. There is the main gate and guard room, adjoining is the ratings’ galley and mess hall, which resembles Monte Carlo in the afternoons. There are wheels and games on which you can get rich quick or, like me, broke quick.
The next point of interest is the theatre. The show running is called Choraina, a cavalcade of all the shows we’ve had. Not seen it yet. Going further we pass into a smaller compound which is the sports ground, where there are pitches for football, baseball and cricket. The Yanks are playing baseball. Football starts next month.
Come back now and the combine will stand you a cup of tea.
From Another World
Stalag 344. 10.9.44.
Met a new chap who has just arrived, only taken 15 days ago. Talking to him makes me feel like a savage from another world. He is only 19 and so he was just a school-kid when I left Blighty. Seems to look on us as relics of a bow and arrow era. Maybe he is right too!
[Boxed] SEND US YOUR PICTURES AND LETTERS
Ten shillings will be awarded each month to senders of the first three letters from prisoners of war to be printed. Copies instead of the originals are requested, and whenever possible these should be set out on a separate sheet of paper, showing the DATES on which they were written. The Editor welcomes for other pages of the journal any recent NEWS relating to prisoners of war.
Ten shillings will also be awarded for photographs reproduced across two columns, and five shillings for those under two. Photographs should be distinct, and any information as to when they were taken is helpful.
Address: Editor, “The Prisoner of War,” St. James’s Palace, London, S.W.!. The cost of these prizes and fees is defrayed by a generous friend of the Red Cross and St. John War Organisation. [/boxed]
[Photograph of six men in uniform] A few of the prisoners at Stalag XVIIA.
We start on half a Red Cross parcel per week next week. Cannot think what we should do without the Red Cross – bless them! I shall have to tighten up my belt, but I am not worried as I don’t think we shall be collecting them much longer!
New Arrivals
Oflag 79. 22.10.44.
It is amusing to observe the new prisoners as they come in (we have a number from Arnhem). It reminds one of one’s own early days “in the bag.” The number of signs and symbols they wear on their arms is amazing to us old kriegies! Of course they give us the latest news from home. Most of them seem to be very young. They are well looked after as soon as they arrive and given extra clothing and other kit.
I am very well, as we all are, except for occasional bouts of the “crowd-complex.” Naturally, living in these conditions we all get a bit tired of being on top of one another and feel sometimes we should like to get to a quiet spot in the country and live alone for the rest of our lives. But the feeling soon passes if you get on with your work, or go to bed, as I am doing just now.
His Room
Stalag VIIA. 31.8.44.
Things are the same here – work, play and sleep. The room in which I sleep holds six – four other Englishmen, one South African, whom we rag and jape from morn till night. Each night we keep the rest of them awake with our guitar and mouth organs. Our room is called Sunshine Corner if it’s quiet,
[Page break]
6 The Prisoner of War FEBRUARY, 1945
[Photograph of six men] A group of prisoners at Stalag Luft III where they make a point of celebrating birthdays.
which is seldom. When the orchestra is playing it is called the China Tea Shop.
How They Live
Stalag 357. 3.12.44.
We live in bungalows, each having four rooms, all joined end on. Each room holds 72 men on double-tier bunks. Four bungalows make “A” compound.
The day begins at 7 a.m. with a brew – on alternative mornings in bed! A wash and shave and then roll call at 8 a.m. We are counted and then dismissed until the next “count” at 4 p.m. We sweep the hut, draw bread and potatoes and then until noon, when we have a hot soup or stew, we play or watch football, rugby, hockey or volley ball.
We have an excellent library, a gymnasium, and use the church hut as a quiet room during the week. We are allowed out and around the camp from rev. till 7.15 p.m. from which time until lights out (now 9 p.m.) we have talks, lectures, whist, bridge or crib drives, quizzes, a dance band or gramophone.
Work and Play
Stalag 344. 5.11.44.
I was very amused at the way you go to business, through clover and wheatfields and over stiles. We have a similar three-mile walk (slow pace), then a little work with a little shovel, and back to camp at a faster pace. We take tea with us and brew up on the job, just like a gang of navvies in the streets of London.
I was interested to know you had seen the Prisoner of War Exhibition. The main camps are like that, but I am at a working camp of 55. We have more facilities and much more comfort.
We hold conferences on world events every day – generals and cabinet ministers have nothing on us!
Two Counties Club
Stalag Luft VII. 16.8.44.
We have just formed a Lancashire and Cheshire club and there are only two from Stockport. The majority come from either Manchester or Liverpool. The club is going to contact the Manchester Evening News, giving names and
[Photograph of a group of men in three rows] The [underlined] SHEFFIELD & DISTRICT [/underlined] Club 1943 Stalag 383 – GERMANY. 1944
addresses of all who live in the Manchester district. So keep a look out.
By the way, I was fortunate enough to be selected to play for England at cricket. The match was played on Bank Holiday Monday, and after a very exciting game we won by 46 runs.
A Hard School
Stalag 357. 30.9.44.
We are in better billets, in spite of the fact that they are not quite completed, and the Detaining Power seems to be helping us to get settles and comfortable as much as they can, for which we are all grateful. We will soon be wishing each other a “Merry Christmas.” It seems hardly possible that I have been away from you so long, and I often wonder if you will think me a lot changed when I return. If I am, I assure you it will be for the better. This is the finest, if the hardest, school in which to learn patience and understanding. I have learned more of human nature since being a P.o.W. than one would normally learn in a lifetime, but how I long for home comforts, a proper bed and plenty of freedom. Believe me, it will take something to move me once I get back.
A Library Arrives
Stalag Luft IV. 29.8.44.
I have at last got hold of some technical books which will help me. When we moved from Stalag Luft VI, I parted company with my entire kit, including all my notebooks and textbooks, as did most of my companions. However, the technical library has arrived intact, so I can continue studying, and while I have no stationery I am managing on cigarette wrappings.
A small amount of Red Cross clothing and toilet articles has arrived and I have been lucky enough to win the cut for the following: 1 toothbrush, 1 comb, 1 razor and soap, 3 razor blades and 1 light vest. This comprises my entire belongings, together with the following which I arrived in: 1 great coat, 1 jacket and trousers, 1 short pants, 1 pair socks and boots, 1 shirt and 1 handkerchief.
We are all in the very best of spirits and exceedingly optimistic and get plenty of fun out of kriegie life.
How He Lives
Stalag IVD. 8.10.44.
You ask me if I live at IVD. No, I am at B.E.I., which is a working party of 170 men. As far as the billets are concerned, they are fairly good. We
[Picture] 1944 A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR ILAG VII 1945
A drawing of the canteen at Ilag VII sent as a Christmas and New Year Card by a Guernsey civilian internee to his mother.
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FEBRUARY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 7
live in rooms; three rooms in a bungalow, twenty men to a room, two men to a bed, one above the other. I am on the top as I think it is better – it is for reading, anyhow.
We now have our own shower-house and wash-place, which is very convenient. Of course, we are locked, barred and bolted in every night, not to mention being counted far too often for my liking.
From German to Drawing
Stalag IVG. 17.9.44.
I have given up trying to learn German; it would take too long. Instead I’ve been spending most of my time lately drawing. I have been able to borrow some paints, but I’m not much of a hand with these.
Our tomato crop must have reached the 5cwt. mark, but it is falling off now as the weather gets colder. It is just about cold enough for snow at the moment.
A Good Cake
Stalag 344. 1.10.44.
I think it’s unfair that you torment me with writing about special apple pie! Of course, by now I’m a pretty good cook myself; last week Gus and I made a grand cake out of the bread ration, two tins biscuits (hard), sugar, raisins, salt, Klim and Nestles. Apart from the fact that it was slightly burnt outside, slightly undone in the centre and slightly heavy, it was a good cake.
Sport - and Stitching!
Stalag Luft III. 15.9.44.
This week there was a big volley-ball competition, with a tote to make things interesting. All the boys wagered with cigarettes, and it was just like Derby day. Through “inside information” I managed to make a few, but as I smoke the old pipe most often, it mattered little.
One America v. Britain series which I mentioned before, ended in a win for the “Yanks,” but it was a lot of fun and time well spent.
Have just finished knitting a khaki scarf, which is useful at this time. What with the sewing, washing, knitting, etc., that I do, I would make a good wife for someone, but I guess that is out of the question.
Varied Activities
Stalag IVB. 26.9.44.
Things here are not bad, bags of entertainment such as football, boxing, etc. We also have a theatre, and last week I saw a show The Barretts of Wimpole Street, and it was excellent.
I do some tailoring now and again and so earn a few cigarettes a week.
We get our Red Cross parcels every week and receiving them is the main event of the week.
I have read in the camp newspaper that the black-out is finished now. I guess it suits you fine.
PERSONALITIES AT STALAG XXB
DESCRIBED BY A P.O.W. THERE
[Photograph of two rows of men in uniform]
BACK ROW. – I will begin from left with the big blonde, “Spite” H., Liverpool, whose ambition is bigger and better boxing gloves and cowboy books. Next is “Bull,” who is happy with a car, the dirtier the better. I come next: I want a good armchair and a radio. Next is my pal “Bun,” London, whose ambition in life is parties. Next is Lewis also from London. He is not fat but can he eat! Next is “Wog” from Bradford, our interpreter, the Lover No. 1. His pal Ron next, also from Bromley, London, whose hobby is cycling, now aims to learn the piano accordian and don’t we know it!
FRONT ROW from left.- The chap with the beret, Bull’s brother, just loves to argue and waits for the time when he will be slicing bacon again (by the way they are Scotsmen). “Pudding” comes next from Leeds, who just lives for his bed and says, “Why can’t you stay in bed all day?! Next is “Fitz,” also Scotch, who longs to be home with his wife and kiddy. Last is “Busty,” our singer, whose ambition is to be on the films.
Birthday Celebrations in the Camps
TIME-HONOURED birthday traditions are observed in the camps with great gusto. They are made occasions for special celebration as a change from the usual routine.
“A happy birthday to you“ in chorus greeted a member of Stalag Luft 3 on the morning of his anniversary, and he was treated to a cup of tea in his bunk. On the previous day a companion had spent six hours grinding up biscuits, dried barley and semolina to make flour for some “wizard” meat patties. Corned beef and onions were used for the filling, and the savoury result marked the occasion at lunch. A “gorgeous” chocolate pudding was produced for sweet at dinner after an excellent course of fried spam in egg-powder and vegetables, and apricot tarts at supper completed the day’s menu. Rations had to be saved for weeks to make enough for this “real do.”
A flying officer, also at Stalag Luft 3, writes home that he did not expect to spend his 21st birthday in a prisoner of war camp, but says that the best was made of a bad job. He was presented with an iced cake and much speculation was aroused as to how the colouring had been obtained. The cake was voted an excellent effort and later the secret was revealed – a drop of red water-colour paint!
One prisoner in Oflag 79 tried to keep his birthday dark, but someone had not forgotten it. The result was a very fine cake for which the ingredients were ground biscuits, raisins, egg flakes and margarine. The mixing and decorations in chocolate and jam were carried out by a fellow-officer, who before the war demonstrated cake-mixing and was able to add the deft professional touch.
On roll call at 8.30 a.m. a letter arrived from home wishing him many happy returns – timed almost to the hour!
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8 The Prisoner of War FEBRUARY, 1945
Linking Relief for the World
THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS
By Colonel Charles de Watteville (Chief of the London Delegation of the I.C.R.C.)
[Photograph of people working on a map]
[Photograph of two women sorting letters] (Left) Working on one of the large maps showing German prison camps at the Central Office at Geneva, and (Right) sorting letters into alphabetical order. Each square represents one letter of the alphabet.
I was particularly pleased when I was asked to write this article for The Prisoner of War because I am often struck by the number of people I meet who are confused by the term International Red Cross. I shall begin with a very brief description of the Red Cross movement as a whole.
The Red Cross first came into being eighty-one years ago as a result of the experiences of a Swiss citizen – Henri Dunant – on the battlefield of Solferino, and the conclusion in August 1864, of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field. To-day the International Red Cross movement, which is governed by Statutes drawn up at The Hague in 1928, is comprised of:
The national Red Cross Societies (numbering sixty-two in 1939) with a total adult membership of over twenty millions.
The International Red Cross Committee – founded in Geneva in 1863 by a Committee of five Swiss citizens (now limited to a membership of twenty-five), and the forerunner of the whole Red Cross movement.
The League of Red Cross Societies – a federation of all the national Red Cross Societies, founded in 1919.
These aspects of the world-wide movement are linked by the International Red Cross Conference which meets every four years and is described in the Statutes as “the highest representative of the International Red Cross.”
The aim of the Red Cross is always to bring relief, whether in war or peace, to suffering humanity, and to this object the various national Societies, organised on a voluntary basis, devote themselves in every country. The International Red Cross Committee, with its headquarters in Geneva, is a completely independent and neutral organisation, composed entirely of Swiss citizens. It is in wartime the link between the national Societies and is the only organisation which, as the result of the trust placed in it by all belligerents, can work for the welfare of the war victims of both sides.
History of the Movement
Ever since 1870 the International Committee has set up in spheres of conflict, agencies for information and the relief of wounded and sick soldiers and prisoners of war. On the outbreak of the 194-18 war the International Agency for Prisoners of War was created in Geneva with a staff of 2,000 Swiss citizens, the majority of whom were voluntary workers.
The agency dealt with requests from thirty belligerent countries; its delegates visited five hundred internment camps; facilities were obtained for the evacuation of civilians from occupied territories and for the repatriation or hospitalisation in neutral countries of sick and wounded soldiers and medical personnel. The Committee organised the repatriation and exchange of prisoners of war of all nationalities after the first World War and co-operated closely with the national Red Cross Societies and other organisations in medical relief and reconstruction work in war-stricken countries. And between the two World Wars the Committee’s services were called upon for China and Abyssinia, in the Gran Chaco in 1936-39.
In 1929 there was signed in Geneva the Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, and under this Convention the International Red Cross Committee is expressly charged with the establishment of a Central Agency for the Exchange of Information about Prisoners of War.
In 1939, therefore, the Committee immediately began this work, as it had done in previous wars, and in June, 1944, its staff numbered 3,289, all of whom were Swiss and more than half of whom were voluntary.
By September, 1944, the index of the Central Prisoners of War Agency contained over 23,000,000 cards relating to prisoners of war and interned civilians; permanent delegates in forty-five countries had made some four thousand visits to camps and in all seventy-seven coun-
[Photograph of rows of card index files] This huge card index system contains over 23 million cards relating to prisoners of war and interned civilians of all nationalities.
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FEBRUARY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 9
tries had been covered by delegates and special missions. The incoming mail numbered 36,489,000 letters and cards, and the outgoing 38,225,000; in one month 134,200 letters and 5,900 telegrams passed through the Committee’s different departments. Over 1,000,000 books had been forwarded to prisoners of war and civilian internment camps, and over 26,000,000 parcels, valued at approximately 2 1/2 milliard Swiss francs, had been handled by the Committee’s Relief Division up to September, 1944.
Civilians, Too
The Committee’s work does not, of course, stop at caring for sick and wounded prisoners of war and interned civilians, but has been extended, in the face of almost superhuman obstacles, to bring aid to civilian populations – especially women and children – in countries overrun by the war.
For this purpose what is known as the International Red Cross Joint Relief Commission was set up in 1940 by the International Red Cross Committee and the League of Red Cross Societies, and it was this organisation which, together with the Swiss and Swedish Red Cross Societies, was able to bring food and medical relief to the famine-stricken populations of Greece and to the children of Belgium.
Another activity of the International Red Cross Committee is the Civilian Message Scheme, by which civilians in one belligerent country can make contact with relatives and friends in another enemy or enemy-occupied country. By September, 1944, nearly 17,000,000 of these messages had been transmitted to and from people separated by the war.
The Committee’s Section for Civilian Research had handled over 500,000 cases by the same date, some necessitating as many as fifty separate enquiries. The Central Index of the Dispersed Families Section will no doubt form the basis of a great post-war task of linking members of families who have become separated.
The Committee has its own Maritime Transport system known as the “Foundation for the Organisation of Red Cross Transport.” It runs a fleet of twelve ships (three of which
[Photographs of parcels in storage and being prepared for sending] (Left) Parcels for p.o.w.s who were transferred to Germany from Italian camps, as Basle Station ready to be readdressed by the International Red Cross. (Above) The routine inspection of parcels of goods for the camps.
are owned by the “Foundation”) which ply between North and South Atlantic and Mediterranean ports, and carry relief goods for prisoners of war and civil populations. These ships, which are marked “International Red Cross Committee” and sail under neutral flags, all have on board a representative of the Committee. By September, 1944, they had transported 265,486 tons of relief goods.
Countless Services
Possibly one of the Committee’s most important and delicate tasks is that of watching over the application of international conventions and in constantly appealing to belligerent Governments on behalf of war victims.
It will be realised that all this work, of which only a bare outline has been given here, is very costly. The Committee’s expenses for the year 1943 amounted to 8,700,000 Swiss francs. Two-thirds of the donations received came from Swiss sources; the remaining third is contributed by certain Governments and a small number of national Red Cross Societies.
I feel I cannot do better than conclude this article with a quotation from a recent publication of the International Red Cross Committee: * *”The International Red Cross in Geneva – 1863-1943” – Page 5.
“it is not to be avoided, in an organisation of such dimensions as the Red Cross, and so largely dependent upon helpers who are neither trained experts nor, in all cases, permanently available, that errors and delays sometimes occur. Where special, privileged channels are open to certain groups, or can be used for an isolated case here and there, it is obvious that enquirers will be satisfied more promptly. But the International Committee and its Agency view their mission above all as a service, not for some only, but for all without privilege or distinction. They rejoice to know that tens and hundreds of thousands are helped by other means than theirs; but the millions who have no access to special favours and whom nobody takes care of otherwise must also be served, and served first. The services demanded of the Committee are countless; they range from the transmission of prisoners’ names by the tens of thousands from Government to Government, to the search for a single missing individual; from supplying a sick prisoner’s request for some remedy indispensable to him, but unobtainable in the enemy country, to rescuing whole sections of populations, such as the children in countries suffering from famine.”
[Boxed] NUMBER PLEASE!
Please be sure to mention your Red Cross reference number whenever you write to us. Otherwise delay and trouble are caused in finding previous correspondence. [/boxed]
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10 The Prisoner of War FEBRUARY, 1945
Official Reports from the Camps
[Boxed] In every case where the conditions call for remedy, the Protecting Power makes representations to the German authorities. Where there is any reason to doubt whether the Protecting Power has acted it is at once requested to do so. When it is reported that food or clothing is required, the necessary action is taken through the International Red Cross Committee. [/boxed]
OFLAG VIIB, EICHSTAETT
Strength on the day of visit, 1,504 officers and 236 other ranks. Since the last visit in June, 1944, two new huts are in the course of erection for further living quarters. A small kitchen in each hut allows for the cooking of private parcels.
Prisoners can only have two hot showers a month. The general health of all prisoners remained good. Recreational facilities inside the camp are good, but all parole activities such as walks and visits to the cinema have been suspended for no given reason.
Censoring at this camp is unsatisfactory and mail is reported to be very slow. There is a new Commandant who is considered reasonable and fair. The camp is still overcrowded.
(Visited October, 1944.)
STALAG LUFT VII BANKAU
There are 800 prisoners of war of the R.A.F., Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force in this camp. They are all non-commissioned officers.
At the moment the prisoners are all in temporary “standard huts” of which there are 190, each accommodating six prisoners. New barracks are being complete, and when these are ready for use it should be the best accommodation so far found in any prisoner of war camp in Germany. There is no lighting or heating in the temporary huts, but due to the hot weather and the long days, there was, up to the time of the visit, no necessity for such facilities. When the new accommodation is ready there will be both lighting and heating.
Sixteen of these huts are available for special purposes, such as sick rooms, school rooms, offices and library. A large barrack for the kitchen has been erected. The prisoners cook their own food, the only complaints being that there were not enough kitchen utensils, and so far no ration scale has been supplied. There is no stock of Red Cross parcels, but a supply has been despatched from Geneva. As is usual in most of the camps, there is very little on sale in the canteen.
There is no provision for either hot or cold showers, but the men take daily cold showers underneath a pump in the open air.
There was no British doctor or medical orderly in the camp; the German authorities have asked for them. The German medical officer calls twice a week, and a German medical orderly looks after the sick. All prisoners have been inoculated against typhus.
The clothing situation is poor. There is a cobbler and tailor attached to the camp, but there is very little repair material to be had.
The German authorities have asked for a Roman Catholic and a Church of England padre, who are expected to arrive shortly. At present a Methodist Minister is holding services.
Outdoor recreation is very satisfactory. There is a large free space where all sorts of games are played. Half of the kitchen barrack is being used as a ping-pong room where there are three tables available.
Mail is rather poor – in particular the receipt of private parcels. The German camp commandant is said to be satisfactory and on good terms with the prisoners of war. When the new barracks are completed this camp should be very good indeed.
(Visited September, 1944.)
HOSPITAL RESERVE LAZARET, EBELSBACH
The number of patients on the day of the visit was 10 Americans and 47 British. There is one British medical officer and three medical orderlies. The only material change since the last visit in May, 1944, was the construction of an excellent air raid shelter; a second is still being built. At present bed-patients are taken on stretchers to the completed shelter and doors are opened for the other patients to walk to a nearby wood, where there are natural shelters.
Owing to the number of other Allied prisoners of war in this hospital, the one barrack assigned to the British and American patients remains overcrowded.
Every patient has a hot bath once a week. There has been no shortage of water this summer. The food is reported to be better now than it has ever been in the past. There is a good stock of Red Cross parcels. Beer and a few matches are occasionally on sale on the canteen. Clothing is still satisfactory.
A new recreation hall has been opened which gives great satisfaction to all the prisoners. The mail from England has just started to arrive again. Medical treatment is most satisfactory. The British and American doctors are given an entirely free hand to run their section of the hospital, and all essential drugs have so far been supplied by the Germans. Surgical dressings are rather limited, but the gap is filled by Red Cross supplies. There were no complaints.
(Visited September, 1944.)
[Photograph of a group of men in three rows] STALAG IXC A group from a concert party held in this camp where there are 380 British prisoners of war. The general health of the camp is good.
STALAG IXC, MUEHLHAUSEN
The strength of this camp is 380 British prisoners of war, including 178 N.C.O.s, one medical officer and two chaplains. More than 100 prisoners had left this camp since the last visit in July.
Bathing and washing facilities are satisfactory and there were no complaints about food or cooking facilities. The order sent by the Red Cross to cut the issue of parcels to one per man per two weeks was accepted by the prisoners with understanding. The clothing situation was satisfactory.
Church of England and Roman Catholic services are held in the camp, but a recent order by the Germans forbidding chaplains to visit work detachments at
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FEBRUARY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 11
any great distance from the main camp rather limits the padres’ activities.
Outdoor recreation is very satisfactory. The prisoners are able to go out for sports every afternoon from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., as well as on Sunday mornings. Indoor entertainments were curtailed after the prisoners had written and acted a sketch which, in the opinion of the Germans, insulted their country.
Mail, as everywhere else, has become very slow, the arrival of private parcels being particularly bad. The general health of the camp is good, and in spite of the recent orders mentioned above, the spirit of the camp is still excellent.
(Visited September, 1944.)
LABOUR DETATCHMENTS
DEPENDENT ON STALAG IXC
Working Detachment No.1278, Gleichamberg was visited for the first time. The compound is situated in a beautiful wood about 1,800 feet above sea level. The present strength of the camp is 37 British prisoners of war who work in a stone quarry near the camp. Working hours are 10 per day, Sundays are always free. There were no complaints about working conditions.
The prisoners live in a stone-built house containing one dormitory, one day room, a kitchen and a wash-room. There are double-tier beds with two German blankets for each prisoner, and most of them possess additional private ones. Lighting and heating are satisfactory. The roofs are reported to leak very frequently, but repairs are promised. Washing facilities are somewhat primitive, but cannot be considered as inadequate. The men receive the correct German heavy workers’ rations. The prisoners have their own cook, and a supply of Red Cross parcels for four weeks.
Medical attention is given by a civilian doctor and there is a British medical orderly in the camp. Dental treatment is good. The general state of health is satisfactory.
Although there is only a small stock of clothing in the camp, each prisoner has at least one uniform. Some have two. The camp has never been visited by a padre due to the recent order of the German High Command. The prisoners have had little chance to play games, but have been granted permission for a regular Sunday walk. In general this camp makes a good impression.
Labour Detachment No. 1401, Bleicherode, is still reported to be a good working camp. 133 British prisoners work in a salt mine. The air-raid shelter provided at the mine for civilian workers is also available to the prisoners. There
[Photograph of three rows of men in uniform] OFLAG VIIB A group of officers at this camp which is still reported to be overcrowded.
are no bugs now. The Men of Confidence from Detachments No. 1416, Sollstedt, and No. 1015, Bischofferode, came to Detachment 1401 for interviews with the visiting delegate, and their detachments are reported to be good.
At No. 1416, 65 British prisoners of war work in a salt mine for nine hours a day, with every Sunday free. The Man of Confidence confirmed that this is the best accommodated camp in the Stalag area. The 127 prisoners at No. 1015 also work in a salt mine for nine hours per day; every second Sunday is free. There were no serious complaints.
Detachment 737, Menterode. – The 138 British prisoners of war are employed in a salt mine near the camp. Some men work underground and others on the surface. There is no overcrowding in the barracks, and the interior arrangements are satisfactory. Some of the sleeping rooms are slightly infested with bugs, but arrangements for gassing the rooms are being made. Facilities for cooking private parcels are most primitive. Clothing is in order. Medical attention is given by a civilian doctor. Detachment 199, Springen, was expected to be moved shortly. The conditions are Springen were satisfactory. Detachment No. 106, Dornoff, where 58 British prisoners of war are employed in a potash mine, is also a good detachment. Some clothing had arrived recently, and this matter is now better except for a lack of small-size shoes. The potato ration had been increased.
Detachment No. 1039, Craja. – The work in the salt mine at this Detachment is considered dangerous, and the delegate insisted that the 90 prisoners should be moved.
(Visited September, 1944.)
STALAG 357, OERBKE, nr. FALLINGBOSTEL
This camp was transferred from North-eastern Germany at the beginning of August, 1944. It is situated in a country area about 2 km. from the very small town of Oerbke. The camp is composed of six compounds, the prisoners being able to move freely from one to another. The centre compound (E), which is very large, has plenty of spare space which can be used as sports fields. Also in this compound are several buildings for general use, such as four brick barracks installed as kitchens, six wooden barracks used as offices for the Men of Confidence; chapel, libraries, schoolrooms, workshops and two large laundries.
Compound “R” has 16 wooden barracks. Each of these barracks composes one large room, 72 prisoners sleeping is each on double-tier beds, and have two blankets each.
Compounds “A,” “B” and “C” each have six large brick barracks, which are divided into eight large rooms, each one accommodating 72 prisoners with the same sleeping arrangements as for Compound “R.”
Compound “A” is not yet occupied, as the barracks are still undergoing repair. When it is ready for use the Camp Commandant hopes to be able to reduce the number of prisoners in each room to 60, which will alleviate the overcrowding which at present exists.
Compound “D” is also unoccupied, but it is intended to use one of the two large brick barracks as a theatre and some schoolrooms and library, and the other as a church and some store rooms. The prisoners will be able to help in the work of repairing these barracks.
Air-raid trenches are being prepared, but as the camp is situated in a rural district it is said to be relatively safe.
On the day of the visit there were 6,512 prisoners in the camp, of whom 3,162 are R.A.F.N.C.O.s, who are not segregated from the Army personnel. This total also includes 645 Canadian, 349 Australians, 225 New Zealanders, and 415 South Africans. There were only three British prisoners of war in the camp hospital.
Daylight is insufficient in most of the brick barracks. It is intended to en-
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12 The Prisoner of War FEBRUARY, 1945
large the existing windows and to open new ones in the two end rooms. There will be no electric lighting at all in the camp until the work of installing the fittings throughout the camp is finished. Each room has two stoves, except for Compound “R,” where the stoves are ready for installation.
Washing and toilet facilities are adequate; in Compound “R” there is a large wash-house with 150 cold water taps, and hot water in large boilers every day.
Compound “C” has wash-rooms at the end of each barrack. Compounds “A” and “B”, when completed, will have the same arrangements; in the meantime the prisoners from these compounds can use one of the large laundries in Compound “E.” Each man is able to have a hot shower about once in ten days.
The prisoners cook their own food. They receive the same German rations as all other British prisoners of war. There was no complaint about the quality of the food. The chief difficulty is the lack of fuel for the boilers. There is no canteen at present in the camp, but the camp authorities promised to open one as soon as Compound “D” is completed. However, there is very little for sale.
At the time of visit there was no stock of Red Cross food parcels owing to the large increase in personnel. Nor was there any stock of clothing, and some prisoners are without greatcoats.
There are three chaplains in the camp, one Church of Scotland, one Church Army, and one Methodist. Arrangements are being made for Roman Catholic and Church of England clergymen to visit the camp.
So far little has been done in the camp with regard to recreational facilities. The prisoners will be allowed to start on the work of completing Compound “D” so that they may have a theatre, library, school, etc. There is plenty of room for exercise within the Compounds, including football and cricket, for which the prisoners have the necessary sports gear. The general state of health in this camp can be considered as good.
STALAG XIB, FALLINGBOSTEL
Of the 56 British prisoners of war in the main camp, four are N.C.O.’s and remainder other ranks. 1,981 British prisoners of war are in 10 work detachments based on the main camp.
There was an adequate supply of Red Cross parcels in the camp and labour detachments at the time of the visit. A new shipment of clothing had arrived and the position had consequently improved. Boot repair material is still short.
A Church of England padre arrived during June and is able to visit the working detachments. The camp leader is also able to go and visit the men stationed away from the main camp whenever he wants to.
The conditions in the camp hospital and infirmary are very good. On the day of the visit there were 22 patients in the hospital and three in the infirmary. The German authorities agreed to the transfer of four tubercular patients to the sanatorium at Elsterhorst as soon as transport was available.
No. 7004, Barum (Labour Detachment dependent on Stalag XIB) was visited for the first time since it was opened in December, 1943. 179 prisoners of war are engaged in laying a private railway line and live in two barracks situated in open country. There are nine rooms, each accommodating 20 men. A third barrack is used for washing purposes.
Interior arrangements are very satisfactory. There is plenty of space, and the heating, lighting and ventilation are good. Each man has two German blankets. A stove is available for cooking Red Cross and private parcels. Washing facilities are adequate. Cold showers daily and one hot shower weekly. The prisoners do their own laundry. Health is at a high standard and there is a good supply of medicaments in the small six-bed infirmary.
Every Sunday afternoon the prisoners are allowed to swim or play football. There is a supply of indoor games and musical instruments in the camp. Beer is delivered, but other canteen stocks are practically non-existent. Mail is rather slow at present.
(Visited August, 1944.)
Reports from other detachments dependent upon Stalag XIB, Nos. 7002-3 and 7004-7, appeared in last month’s issue.
[Photograph of men in uniform around a coffin] The funeral with full military honours of a prisoner of war from working detachment 855 attached to Stalag IVA, who died in hospital last year.
STALAG IVC
Repeated representations have been made through the Protecting Power concerning British prisoners of war in Stalag IVC, who are said to be working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with one Sunday off a month. Sir James Grigg said in answer to a question in the House of Commons on January 16th that so far no satisfaction had been received, but that representations would be continued to be made as long as there is the slightest hope of achieving results.
CIVILIAN INTERNMENT CAMPS
ILAG WURZACH
Since the date of the last report on this family camp (see issue for May, page6) there have been some improvements, but the camp cannot yet be considered as entirely satisfactory. It is crowded; there are still vermin, and there is little free space within the camp perimeter, although walks can be taken in the monastery garden every day and the sports ground is available once a week.
Kitchen equipment is very modern and the internees can prepare their own food from the official rations and from the contents of Red Cross food parcels. White bread and milk are provided for the sick and for the children. Each internee can have one hot shower a week. Medical attention is satisfactory, and the state of health is good.
The camp library contains several thousand books and the internees have some musical instruments and indoor games. They have formed an orchestra and a theatrical company. The children receive instruction from professional schoolmasters and the kindergarten in well equipped.
The situation as regards clothing is satisfactory, but there is a lack of repair material.
Last visited by the Protecting Power on the 1st June, 1944, and by the International Red Cross on the 7th September.
ILAG LIEBENAU
Since the date of the last report on this civilian internment camp (see issue for May, 1944, page 6) there have been no great changes. Materially, the camp makes a good impression, the convent and adjoining buildings being of modern construction, while the garden and courtyard are well looked after. It has, however, been necessary recently to take steps against vermin. Each internee can have a hot bath or shower every week.
(Continued on page 15.)
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FEBRUARY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 13
Groups from the Camps
[Photograph of three rows of men, some in uniform, some in sports kit, two lying on the ground at the front] STALAG XXA
[Photograph of three rows of men] OFLAG VA
[Photograph of three rows of men in uniform] STALAG IVB
[Photograph of four rows of men in uniform] HEILAG IVD/Z
[Photograph of three rows of men in uniform] STALAG III D
[Photograph of three rows of men in uniform] STALAG VIII B
[Photograph of two rows of men in uniform] MARLAG U. MILAG NORD
[Photograph of two rows of men in uniform] STALAG 383
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14 The Prisoner of War FEBRUARY, 1945
EXAMINATION SUCCESSES
During 1944 the number of examination entries more than doubled that of the previous year. Over 6,000 examination scripts have now been received, and over 3,000 results were announced last year. The proportion of total passes for the year was 78.5 per cent., a figure reflecting great credit on instructors and candidates.
In a recent pass list issued by the Royal Society of Arts, there were 29 first classes out of 147 entries. Two of those who gained first classes also gained distinction in the oral test in French.
[Photograph of a group of men] The Theological Society at Oflag 79. This photograph was taken during the summer of last year.
Information has been received from the Institute of Book-keepers that one of their examination candidates, who was awarded a prize in the summer examinations, has written to them saying that the certificates he gained have been instrumental in obtaining for him a good position since his repatriation to Australia.
A Rover crew has been started in Stalag 383. Some of its members have sent home studies for Part I of the 1943-44 Scout Woodbadge Papers, and they have been forwarded to the Scout Headquarters in London.
A pass list for July to December, 1944, is in preparation and will be available soon. Application should be sent with 3d. in stamps to the Educational Books Section at the New Bodleian, Oxford .
Y.M.C.A. SPORTS MEDAL
Won by District Man of Confidence
The Y.M.C.A. sports medal, which was described in the January issue of the journal, may be awarded to any prisoner of war who has done especially good work in the interests of his fellow-men in captivity, as well as for outstanding sportsmanship. It has recently been won by a district man of confidence at Stalag IVA for carrying out his duties in “a most efficient and wholehearted manner during his term of office” on the recommendation of the chief man of confidence as a token of esteem.
His Tasks
The tasks of a district man of confidence in looking after the interests of the detachments in his area are exacting and varied. He is responsible for the distribution of Red Cross parcels, cigarettes, clothing and boots, Y.M.C.A. sports equipment and games.
He also sees that boots are repaired and clothing renewed when necessary, organises inter-detachment sports and football matches, and changes books and gramophone records to ensure that there is a steady flow of new material.
Infinite patience and understanding are required in answering the numerous questions put to him by the men; and his settlement of any little troubles which arise must be just.
[Boxed] How They Help
In addition to those mentioned below, we wish to thank the many kind readers whose help to the funds this month we cannot find room to record here individually. [/boxed]
Those who have been fortunate enough to be repatriated do not forget their companions they have left behind in the camps, and from many of them have come sums to be devoted to those who are still prisoners of war. Among them, Pte. F. Harffey, of Hastings, who was released from Switzerland, sends a contribution in appreciation of what the Red Cross was able to do for him and “to help my fellow-prisoners who are having a bad time in Germany.” Men who are still in the camp frequently ask their relatives to forward donations for them to the Red Cross, and Mrs. Burton, of Stafford, is one of the next of kin who has forwarded £5 from her husband.
At the present time money from many of the past year’s efforts is arriving. Mrs. McKinder forwards £55 from Hull, her third annual contribution, achieved by pickling onions, selling garden produce and fancy articles. “It has been hard work, but I have loved it,” Mrs. McKinder assures us, and she is already planning another year’s work. Mrs. Crowson, who lives in Lincoln, saves sixpence for every issue of “The Prisoner of War” which she receives, and among a host of regular supporters are Mrs. Huxford, of Woodbridge, and Mrs. Galloway, of Maida Vale, who send contributions every month.
Christmas sales of work find eager customers and once again we are indebted to those who have so successfully planned them to help the Red Cross. From a sale of home-made gifts and toys organised by Mrs. Francis (who had previously raised £69 by her own efforts) and three helpers at Wrexham has come £168. The 4th Whitby (County School) Guides have sent a cheque for £20, the result of a Christmas sale and entertainment which they arranged, while the Rayleigh Methodist Youth Club raised £60, also from a sale and concert, their fourth effort of this kind. A money order for £4 15s. has been sent by the pupils of Tynyrheol Council School, near Bridgend, as a special Christmas greeting and a Christmas gift of £10 came from Percymain School, Cullercoats.
Mrs. Brinkworth, of Forest Gate, has been busy stitching gloves for sale among her friends, and slippers made by Mrs. Fry have been purchased by people in Andover to the value of £10. £1 6s. has been sent by Mrs. O’Neill, of Preston, for her daughter, Pat, whose uncle is a prisoner of war, and has sold some of her precious story books to collect this money.
P.o.W.s Gifts for Children
Members of the Lothian and Border Yeomanry who are in Stalag 357 have sent home £100, asking that it should be spent to provide presents at Christmas-time for the children of their less fortunate comrades who have fallen in action.
£50 has also been received by the Welfare Fund of this regiment from men at Stalag 383, who made the same generous gesture of remembrance and loyalty to their comrades. As the money reached this country too late for Christmas, it will be used to send the children toys and savings certificates for Easter.
[Page break]
FEBRUARY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 15
Red Cross Exhibition Coach
Over 23,000 people in five Lancashire towns have now visited the Red Cross mobile Exhibition Coach, which continues its 4,000-mile railway tour of England. The Exhibition is contained in a bob-damaged dining car which has been repaired, equipped with show-cases and lent to the Red Cross and St. John Penny-a-week Fund by the L.M.S.
Red Cross activities displayed include services to prisoners of war of food parcels, comforts and training schemes; and work for the wounded shows their transports to hospital, comforts, medical and surgical stores, and some of the reconstruction done during convalescence.
The coach will be on view at the station of at least 60 towns, and this month’s programme is as follows:-
February.
1st, 2nd, Bradford (Forster Square).
3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, Leeds City (South).
8th, 9th, 10th, Darlington.
12th, 13th, 14th, Newcastle-on-Tyne (Central).
16th, 17th, Sunderland.
19th, 20th, West Hartlepool.
21st, 22nd, Middlesbrough.
23rd, 24th, 26th, York.
27th, 28th, March 1st, Hull (Paragon).
CAMP REPORTS
(Continued from page 12)
Food is still excellent and there is a good supply of Red Cross food parcels. Medical treatment is satisfactory and the general state of health is remarkably good. The supply of clothing, however, especially shoes, is proving something of a difficulty.
Recreational and educational facilities are as good as ever, although it was reported in June that the camp theatre had been closed for three months. The German authorities promised, however, to take the necessary steps to enable the internees to give performances again.
Last visited by the Protecting Power in the 2nd June, 1944, and by the International Red Cross on the 7th September.
ILAG KREUZBERG
Since the date of the last report on this camp (see issue for July, 1944, page 6) there have been no outstanding changes. There are approximately 370 internees in the camp, some of whom are volunteers working in four different working detachments.
Every internee enjoys a weekly bath. Arrangements for private cooking are satisfactory, and there is a stock of Red Cross food parcels. There was, however, a complaint that too many dried vegetables were being received.
The state of health of the internees is generally satisfactory. Recreational and exercise facilities are still excellent.
Last visited by the Protecting Power on July 24th, 1944.
KNIT THIS
Cosy Cap
[Photograph of a knitted hat]
[Instructions for knitting the pictured hat]
A Prisoner’s Poetry
SGT. R.P.L. MOGG, a journalist by profession, who was shot down over Germany and taken prisoner early in the war, vividly expresses his experiences of flying with the R.A.F. in six moving poems written during captivity.
A fellow prisoner of war, Sgt. J.W. Lambert, has contributed striking pictures to illustrate the poems which he has lettered beautifully in Gothic style.
The collection, under the title of the first poem, For This Alone, published by Basil Blackwell (8s. 6d.) is printed in facsimile just as it was received from the prisoner of war camp. It includes verses on the vigil of airmen’s wives and a flight of bombers, which reveal a sensitive imagination, and the “Requiem for Dead Airmen,” with which the book ends is remarkable for its simplicity.
An introduction by Edward Alderton reminds those who might accuse the author of being morbid that the dividing line between operational flying and death is of a very nebulous character.
For This Alone is an unusual book which demonstrates once again the patience and creativeness with which prisoners of war master their circumstances.
[Boxed] FREE TO NEXT OF KIN
This journal is sent free of charge to those registered with the Prisoners of War Dept.as next of kin. In view of the paper shortage no copies are for sale, and it is hoped that next of kin will share their copy with relatives and others interested. [/boxed]
[Page break]
16 The Prisoner of War FEBRUARY, 1945
[Underlined] Please Study This Carefully [/underlined]
NEXT-OF-KIN PARCELS
With reference to the instructions on page 26 of the Prisoner of War for December, please note that the allowance of 20 extra coupons (and extra chocolate and soap) made to compensate for 1944 issues missed owing to the suspension of despatches, can be made only up to the end of February and only to next of kin who still hold a 1944/3 label (or earlier 1944 issue) with 20 coupons.
Next of kin who qualify, and apply for, the extra coupons for use with a label already in their possession, are particularly requested not to despatch a parcel with this label before they receive the extra coupons, because these must be accounted for at the same time as the issue already held.
If a parcel is sent in without the extra coupons being accounted for at the same time, they will have to be sent back to the packing centre for clearance, before any subsequent label can be issued.
The extra allowances cannot, in any circumstances, be made with a 1944/4 or any 1945 label.
Applications should state clearly whether the next of kin holds an issue of label and coupons, and if so, its number.
IMPORTANT. – Please note that no applications for an extra allowance of coupons to be used with a 1944 label will be considered after February 28th, 1945. Applications received after that date will not be answered.
DESPATCHES FROM FINSBURY CIRCUS AND GLASGOW
In consequence of the very great number of parcels received since the beginning of December and the difficulty of obtaining extra labour, the despatches from the Packing Centres at Finsbury Circus and Glasgow are about one month in arrears.
The issue of labels and coupons is also consequently delayed.
All possible steps are being undertaken to overcome the difficulties, and next of kin are asked to help by not making enquiries about the despatch of their parcel and the issue of their next label and coupons until at least two months have elapsed since they sent their parcel.
FOUR REMINDERS
Here are four reminders from Finsbury Circus Packing Centre which, if followed, will help Red Cross workers to deal with your parcels with the least possible delay:-
1. When packing your parcel, please be careful to see that it is not overweight. If it is, some important article may have to be returned to you.
2. When ordering chocolate and soap it must be remembered that the final weight of the parcel after the addition of these articles must not be more than 10lb. Money for chocolate or soap, also invoices, coupons and acknowledgement card must be sent inside the parcel – not by separate letter post.
3. All articles intended for inclusion in a parcel should be sent together; it is exceedingly difficult to link up articles sent at different times.
4. All three copies of the invoice which accompany each parcel to the Packing Centre should be clearly written so that they can be checked quickly.
STAFF WANTED
The Prisoners of War Department, St. James’s Palace, S.W.1, is urgently in need of staff, i.e., correspondence, filing and indexing clerks; shorthand and copy typists (women only). Full time or part time (30 hours weekly).
Offers of assistance, voluntary or salaried, would be much appreciated, and should be addressed to:-
The Personnel Officer, Prisoners of War Department, B.R.C.S. and St. John, St. James’s Palace, S.W.1.
Hours of interview: 10.30 a.m. to 12 p.m. or 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., with the exception of Saturday afternoons.
Money from P.o.W.s
As many enquiries about remittances from prisoners are still being addressed to St. James’s Palace, we reprint this notice.
Arrangements have been made with the German Government which enables a prisoner of war to transfer any part of his credit balance in Germany to this country. These arrangements operate as from November 1st, 1943.
Notification of the prisoners’ wishes are received by the Government on lists transmitted through Switzerland, and relatives will understand that these lists take longer to reach this country than letters from individual prisoners informing them of the impending remittances.
Enquiries should not be addressed to the Red Cross, which is not concerned in such payments. Relatives will hear in due course from the Paymaster or Bank concerned.
[Boxed] YOUR ENQUIRIES
The Prisoner of War Department at St. James’s Palace is very busy and very short of staff.
To enable essential enquiries to be answered with as little delay as possible, will you please make your letters as SHORT and CLEAR as you can. [/boxed]
CHANGE OF ADDRESS
If you are expecting your prisoner home in the forthcoming repatriation, do not forget to notify the appropriate Service Department or Record Office and the local Red Cross P.O.W. representative of any change of address.
P.o.W. Exhibition Catalogues
A few copies of the catalogue of the Prisoners of War Exhibition held in London last year are still available (price 6d., or 7d. including postage).
Those who wish to order a catalogue as a record of their impressions of the exhibition should apply to:-
Mr. Tomlins, Red Cross and St John War Organisation, Publicity Department, 24, Carlton House Terrace, London, S.W.1.
COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES
Please note the following change of address:-
ESSEX: Mrs. Hanbury, The Central Library, Duke Street, Chelmsford.
HAMPSHIRE: The p.o.w. representative is:
Mrs. T. Dodd, Old Library House, Dean Park Road, Bournemouth.
Printed in Great Britain for the Publishers, THE RED CROSS AND ST. JOHN WAR ORGANISATION, 14, Grosvenor Crescent, London, S.W., by THE CORNWALL PRESS LTD., Paris Garden, Stamford Street, London, S.E.1.
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Prisoner of War February 1945
Description
An account of the resource
The official journal of the Prisoners of War Department of the Red Cross and St John War Organisation. This edition covers the Food Situation about food parcel delivery, Editors comments, Sport reports from the Camps, suggestions for parcel contents, POW letters, Personalities at Stalag XXB, Birthday celebrations in the camps, Linking Relief for the World, Official Reports from the Camps, Group photographs from the Camps, Exam results, charitable contributions, news about the Red Cross exhibition coach, a knitting pattern for a woollen cap, a poetry book and next-of-kin parcels,
Date
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1945-02
Format
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16 printed sheets
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Identifier
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MCurnockRM1815605-171114-024
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
France--Marseille
Germany
Germany--Bleicherode
Germany--Eichstätt
Germany--Görlitz (Görlitz)
Poland--Kołobrzeg
Poland--Malbork
Great Britain
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Channel Islands
England--Bradford
England--Cullercoats
England--Hull
England--Leeds
England--Lincoln
England--Liverpool
England--London
England--London
England--Stockport
England--Woodbridge (Suffolk)
Wales--Bridgend
Wales--Wrexham
Netherlands
Netherlands--Arnhem
Sweden
Sweden--Stockholm
Switzerland
Switzerland--Geneva
Switzerland--St. Gallen
Lithuania
Poland
Lithuania--Šilutė
Poland--Tychowo
Poland--Żagań
Germany--Bad Fallingbostel
Poland--Kędzierzyn-Koźle
England--Northumberland
England--Suffolk
England--Yorkshire
England--Lancashire
England--Lincolnshire
Creator
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Great Britain. Red Cross and St John war organisation. Prisoners of war department
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
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Anne-Marie Watson
Temporal Coverage
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1945-02
aircrew
animal
arts and crafts
entertainment
prisoner of war
Red Cross
sanitation
sport
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
Stalag Luft 6
Stalag Luft 7
-
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Spatial Coverage
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England--Stockport
Title
A name given to the resource
Stockport [place]
Description
An account of the resource
This page is an entry point for a place. Please use the links below to see all relevant documents available in the Archive.
-
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Title
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Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
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This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
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Title
A name given to the resource
Royal visit to Woodford
A group of people in front of a Lancaster
Description
An account of the resource
Roy Chadwick stands in front of a Lancaster talking to H M The Queen. To the left a group of dignatories including the King in uniform, look on. In the background left a hangar, to the right spectators and another hangar. On the reverse 'Their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on occasion of their visit to Woodford Cheshire 1942. With the King - Sir Roy Dobson, Capt Brown, Sir Hartley Shawcross. With the Queen Roy Chadwick and Mr Fielding of A V Roe & Co Ltd. Vital original photo'.
Date
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1942
Format
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One b/w photograph
Type
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Photograph
Identifier
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PChadwickR19040126, PChadwickR19040127
Coverage
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Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
Lancaster
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24359/PChadwickR19040124.1.jpg
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Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Royal visit to Woodford
A group of people in front of a Lancaster
Description
An account of the resource
Roy Chadwick stands in front of a Lancaster talking to H M The Queen. To the left King George VI and a group of dignatories look on. In the background left a hangar, to the right spectators and another hangar. On the reverse 'Woodford aerodrome Nov 1942. Vital original photo Roy Chadwick's writing'.
Publisher
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Allied Newspapers Manchester
Date
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1942-11
Format
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One b/w photograph
Type
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Photograph
Identifier
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PChadwickR19040124, PChadwickR19040125
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-11
Rights
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This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
Lancaster
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/518/10332/BBrennanCEBrennanCEv10001.2.jpg
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Dublin Core
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Title
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Lapham, Rosemary
R Lapham
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Lapham, R
Description
An account of the resource
100 items. An oral history interview with Rosemary Lapham, the daughter of Roy Chadwick, family correspondence, congratulations on being honoured, personal documentation as well as photographs of family, acquaintances and aircraft. The collection also contains a thank you letter from Barnes Wallis to Roy Chadwick and a note from Arthur Harris to Robert Saundby about the in-feasibility of the Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation, some conceptual aircraft drawings and other mementos.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rosemary Lapham and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
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2015-06-22
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
A short personal observation of life as an engineer at Rolls Royce during the war; as they watched the designer of the Lancaster, Roy Chadwick and later Barnes Wallis, who designed the bouncing bomb, work towards what was to become known as the “Dam Raids.”
[Heading] Roy Chadwick at Scampton RAF Station on the Night of the Dam Buster Raid. [short shaky line]
This is an account which I am [underlined] most [/underlined] delighted to receive; from a Gentleman who knew Roy Chadwick and who was with the “Lancaster’s” designer at Scampton, on the night of the Dam Buster raid. [underlined]Mr C.E. Brennan of Littleover, Derby.[/underlined]
I was seconded to A V Roe [sic] at Woodford, late in 1940, where I was to spend the next, most enjoyable 2 years of my working life.
How well, and with what affection I think of those wonderful people – of the long but rewarding hours we spent together. I think of my first flight with the late Captain Thorne; of the Rugger Club we formed and how we would play, at Poynton playing fields under the tutelary eye of the manager, Mr Ainsworth; that is, when we were given that brief tot [sic] of time off.
I think of how your Father would come, now and again, to see if his boys were beating the Rolls Royce boys; and of our sessions in the (Thieves[sic] Neck) or to give it its [sic]correct name, I believe, “The Devonshire Arms”; across from the factory.
At this time I saw Mr Chadwick almost every day, as he came to see how the line of aircraft was progressing and, of course, how promptly they were rolling to the FLIGHT SHEDS for the attention of Captain Thorne.
Later I was to spend more time travelling between Woodford, and what was then, RINGWAY – this was quite a business because the Paratroop [sic] was there, and there was quite a palaver to get in past the sentries.
Our Rugger sessions came to an end when the first Americans to arrive in England were stationed on our beloved pitch at Poynton. However we did have one session at Sale, which your Father came, especially, to watch.
[page break]
I remember too, with great affection, a lady who worked in the canteen at (AVRO) Woodford who had a wonderful singing voice. Her name was Hilda Green. She was known as the Gracie Fields of Stockport, and she really did have a remarkable voice. I had a signed copy of Gounod’s AVE MARIA which she gave, and which I have now lost; along with my youth. I believe this lady died, no more than five to six years ago; & she was in her eighties.
Of course there was at times, the odd bit of conflict between the R.R. men, and the A V Roe men; but no more than pride on both sides, in our respective ...? [sic] but no more than bitter sweet; and never anything serious, - although it was known to both sides that Mr Chadwick was to be avoided if he came to the factory in the early morning.
It was rumoured that he suffered with his stomach*[sic] and was to be avoided until 10AM at least!! But with all the worry that goes with running such a large empire and under wartime conditions, it is no wonder his stomach troubled him at times. Also, of course, in those days, it was nothing to be working until 10pm - 11pm, and many times all through the night, and on the next day. This applied to A V Roe [e may not have been in original] men, to management and of course to we Rolls Royce men too.
Despite this the camaraderie between us all in our task, was fantastic.
All this was to come to an end in early 1942. Because of my experience on the beautiful old “Lancaster”, I was seconded to 5 Bomber Group in Lincolnshire, and spent my time travelling around 16 Aerodromes sometimes being on 2-3 aerodromes in one day.
[Short shaky line]
at [sic] one point in the late 1930s, I think, my father went on a Breakfast diet of Egg, beaten in milk, because he had this pain in his stomach. But I do not think that he suffered from any serious trouble. It would be the nervous tension of his working life. Hidden otherwise [initialled MD]
[page break]
I stayed at whichever aerodrome we finished work. So, from then on, there was very little time for the social life we had enjoyed at Woodford.
It was at this time, that we had one session of about 3 weeks at Scampton; modifying, and bringing all the 'Lancasters' up to scratch. It was a really hectic time. We would often see, what we would call “Boffin” around; who would occasionally call “good morning”, but never get into conversation. We were later to discover that this was the great “Barnes Wallis”.
On the night of the “Dam Raid”, and having watched “Take Off”, after supper, we repaired to the Mess; still not knowing for certain the destination of the departed “Lancs” only rumours at this stage. -
We wondered why there were so many “Brass Hats” in attendance? – But then, thats [sic] how it was in those days.
Later in the night: I believe around 11pm, I spotted Mr Chadwick among the “Brass Hats”. I caught his eye, and he came across and asked how I was, and did I miss dear old Stockport. We had quite a conversation.
I left the mess about 2.30AM; Mr Chadwick was still there, and I was to see him no more.
Later that year, having tried and been stopped by Rolls Royce, to Join the FLeet AIR ARM, and the MERCHANT NAVY, as an engineer – I Joined [sic] the Royal Engineers as an Engineer on Landing Craft – and have never been able to return to dear old Woodford again. So I think I had a pretty full war.
But despite all, they < The AVRO years > [initalled MD] were and always will be the happiest years of my life.
C.E.Brennan
[page break]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Roy Chadwick at Scampton RAF Station on the Night of the Dam Buster Raid
Description
An account of the resource
A personal account of life of an engineer, C E Brennan, who was seconded to A V Roe at Woodford and Ringway who saw Roy Chadwick frequently. He talks of comradeship, playing rugby and listening to singer Hilda Green. Mentions the sporting rivalry between A V Roe and Rolls Royce and Roy Chadwick's character. Continues with his secondment to 5 Group and travelling around all their airfields as well as preparing aircraft for the Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation. Talks about the night of the Dams attack and talking to Roy Chadwick. Eventually he joined the Royal Engineers on landing craft and never returned to Woodford.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
C E Brennan
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three page handwritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BBrennanCEBrennanCEv1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Greater Manchester
England--Stockport
England--Manchester
England--Lancashire
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-05-16
1943-05-17
617 Squadron
bombing
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation (16–17 May 1943)
Lancaster
RAF Ringway
rivalry
sport
Wallis, Barnes Neville (1887-1979)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24278/PChadwickR19040046.2.jpg
2d168b6e04cb7474d29b6b9c5ad6cd89
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Roy Chadwick and six men by the rear cabin door of an Avro Tudor
Description
An account of the resource
Seven men in line three are wearing white flying suits and the others coats and two with hats. Behind the rear fuselage of a passenger aircraft with open door. Captioned 'First flight of the Avro Tudor at Woodford, March 1946. Messrs Alf Sewart, Bill Thorn, Roy Chadwick, C E Fielding, Jimmy Orrell, Jack Dobson'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946-03
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph mounted on a page
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PChadwickR19040046
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946-03
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24287/PChadwickR19040061.2.jpg
6884efa02046e6bdea9183ef964426a2
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24287/PChadwickR19040062.2.jpg
c3f52b3221ac1114d15676152d313b51
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Roy Chadwick and five men in front of a building
Description
An account of the resource
Six men standing in line all wearing suit and tie. Behind a brick building with door on the left and windows on the right. Captioned 'After maiden flight of Avro Tutor I [March crossed out] May 1946 at A V Roe Woodford. Roy Chadwick, Mr Wilmot, Sir Roy Dobson, Sir Thomas Sopwith Arthur Woodburn MP and an official'. On the reverse '[…….], [sic]the Avro Tutor at Woodford March 1946. Mr Alf Sewart, Bill Thorn, Roy Chadwick, C E Fielding, Jimmy Orrell, Jack Dobson [sic]'
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946-05
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PChadwickR19040061, PChadwickR19040062
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946-05
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24322/PChadwickR19040085.2.jpg
0f7c9e5f255c846665c3f122236064a6
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24322/PChadwickR19040086.2.jpg
1786f63ed9482550284645c313acff9a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Roy Chadwick and Bill Thorn at rear cabin door of an aircraft
Description
An account of the resource
Two men wearing coats and hats stand by a step ladder at rear cabin door of an aircraft. Another man is leaning inside the door. In the background part of an engine and hangar door. On the reverse 'Roy and Bill Thorn Avro's test pilot about 1946 at Woodford'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PChadwickR19040085, PChadwickR19040086
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Chadwick, Roy (1893-1947)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24353/PChadwickR19040112.2.jpg
2cea0d04ef010264f2f9be6726bd9b05
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24353/PChadwickR19040113.2.jpg
66eb7844985418458d166bce50a40ba3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lancaster take off or landing
Description
An account of the resource
Front quarter view of a Lancaster airborne just above the ground with undercarriage down. Below a runway and in the background hangars. On the reverse 'Avro Lancaster 1941. A lovely photo taken at Avro's aerodrome by the assembly works (not in photo), Woodford Cheshire'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1941
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PChadwickR19040112, PChadwickR19040113
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Lancaster
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24312/PChadwickR19040066.1.jpg
0ad0342d3201649870d4c371bab118cd
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24312/PChadwickR19040067.1.jpg
e967a89d8c1e0a93d3557b0511d9cbe0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lancaster sections
Description
An account of the resource
On the left the rear fuselage of Lancaster ND824 on a trolley. On the right the nose section of a Lancaster on a flat bed truck. Behind a field and fence. On the reverse 'at the Avro assembly works, Woodford Cheshire. The Lancaster was made in sections (5) at many works and assembled at Woodford. Sections of Lancaster on way to Woodford 1942'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PChadwickR19040066, PChadwickR19040067
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Lancaster
service vehicle
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1623/25111/PCothliffKB15110111.1.jpg
d986ab2edd32aa414fb73a02fa935d58
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Cothliff, Ken. Folder 1511
Description
An account of the resource
77 items. The collection contains photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Cothliff and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Cothliff, K
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lancaster KB700 at Woodford
Description
An account of the resource
A rear/port view of a Lancaster on the ground. Information supplied with the collection identifies this as Woodford, October 43.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PCothliffKB15110111
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-10
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-10
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Lancaster
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1249/16388/ADareI180704.2.mp3
03d0d174f27b1395f85258c9123c9f67
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Dare, Iris
I Dare
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Iris Dare (1922 - 2018, 427994 Royal Air Force). She served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and was married to Flying Officer Maurice Edward Dare (425238 Royal New Zealand Air Force), a pilot with 75 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-07-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Dare, I
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
GT: This is Wednesday the 4th of July 2018, and I am at the home of Mrs Iris Dare, wife of Maurice Edward Dare, a New Zealand Lancaster pilot of 75 New Zealand Squadron RAF, from 1944. Iris was born Nineteen June 1922 in Newcastle, England and joined the RAF in January 1940. Iris, thank you for having me in your home. Can you please tell me why you joined the Royal Air Force, and when?
ID: It was a time when I was making up my mind whether I should join the air force or do- Go into nursing. Well, the air force won because of one thing, the uniform [chuckles].
GT: [Chuckles]
ID: That’s all, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I enjoyed every minute of five years.
GT: So, you joined from Newcastle?
ID: I joined in 19- At the beginning of January 1940. The war had just started. I mean I can remember as if it were yesterday. I was listening to the radio and I heard them say, you know, ‘We are at war with Germany.’ Oh dear. Oh, I know what, should I do nursing, no, I like the uniform, I’d rather be in the women’s air force. So, I went to- I was born in a village outside Newcastle, but I went to Gosforth to join up and from there, as I say, they sent me down to Swansea down, right down in Wales, and I was there for about eighteen month I think, and it was- I’m sure it was the start of the training of- To be a balloon operator, which was- I enjoyed in a way but, only to a certain degree because there was a lot of heavy work attached to being that person. But, well, as I say, I got used to it and I enjoyed being with the girls, I mean, I made a lot of friends. It was really, really an- I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy one minute [emphasis] of being in the women’s air force. I absolutely loved it, loved it and, I mean, I’m sure the girls today have a better time than we had [chuckles] I mean, when you think about it, we used to get paid one-pound-thirty for a fortnight. But a lot of the things that we had and were given were from Lord Halifax, he used to supply us with all sorts of things, free. So, we had really nothing to spend the money on, only luxuries, and we spent them very quickly. By the end of the fortnight, nobody had any money, nobody. But of course, when I got married to Mauri, every now and again he would send me a five-pound note [emphasis], I mean, I don’t- Do they have five-pound notes now? Well, he used to send me that and of course, I used to treat all the girls, we’d go up to the NAAFI and we’d have- Because on a Thursday, you only had horse meat for your dinner and I didn’t like that, so we used to go to the NAAFI and have what you call a sticky bun and a cup of coffee [chuckles] and I used to pay for the girls. That was practically the end of the five pounds, oh gosh [chuckles].
GT: So, when you were doing square bashing and marching and all that kind of stuff, or was it admin or?
ID: You do that at your initial training, and I won, well, no I didn’t win, I mean, they had a word of command, that is to take the parade, and I thought- There was two people left after we’d had the audition, I was one, and a young girl, seventeen, was the- Another one, she won it, I didn’t get to go with the passing out parade, she did it.
GT: Seventeen.
ID: But, I mean, I do try to speak clearly because of Andrea being deaf.
GT: So, when you were doing your marching, you joined up in January, that was winter for England was it? So, were you in skirts or did they give you trousers ‘cause it must’ve been really cold?
ID: Well, we had the dress uniform and a battle dress, trousers and a what do you call it? Top thing.
GT: Tunic, tunic?
ID: But that was mainly for working, but I mean I've seen a lot of the girls, when I was there, they would wear them to go out with but I never did, I used to wear my uniform. But that is about the only time I have ever had a skirt, I mean, the lady today said to me, she’s taking me to the hospital, she said, ‘I think you should wear a skirt,’ I said, ‘A skirt [emphasis]? I have never owned such a thing as a skirt’ [chuckles]. Oh dear, honestly, but it was a wonderful time, wonderful. I recommend it.
GT: So, they posted you to Stockport on balloons, did they?
ID: Yes, that was- I was first on balloons. But, then later on I became a driver, and I used to-
GT: Now, with the balloons though, what did you do to look after the balloons? And your brother was involved, you said?
ID: No, I didn’t do anything before the balloons, that’s the first thing I was taught on. But-
GT: And what did that involve Iris? What, did you have to do for the balloons?
ID: Well, to start off with, you’ve got to learn how to splice ropes, you learnt how to lift heavy concrete blocks, and you’ve got to look after a balloon, which I didn’t and got severely told off for.
GT: What happened Iris? What happened?
ID: I don’t know, I mean, when I was a corporal, I went out with the girls one night and I had, I think about nine gin and oranges, by the time I came outside, I got back to the billet and of course, in the thing that we were living in, this tin thing, you have a separate room, the girls are in there and you’ve got a room to yourself. Well, I came in and I lay down and everything went round and round and afterwards, I told one of the girls, she said, ‘You should have lain on your stomach and you wouldn’t have had that,’ and I said, ‘Now she tells me’. But, the WAAF officer came round that morning, and she had to interview me sort of for the day, and well she, she looked at me and she said, (it was a very warm day) she said, ‘Are you alright corporal?’ I said, ‘Why?’ She said, ‘It’s a nice day and you’ve got your battle dress on and a big scarf round your neck,’ she said, ‘Aren’t you hot?’ [chuckles]. I don’t know, honestly, I felt so embarrassed but, I found the officers very nice, very nice, but I like the uniform today, I really do.
GT: So, tell me how you lost a balloon?
ID: Oh, don’t mention the balloon [emphasis]. Honestly, I was left- I was a corporal and I had sixteen girls. Now, you let eight go on the evening up till ten o’clock, that’s alternate every night, eight go, the next night the other eight go. Well, I was left with eight girls and, as I say, it was a beautiful night, and they said, ‘Can’t we just go down the pub?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m sure, you know, nothing’s going to happen, yeah’. And I should never have let them go. Well, I mean, you know what they used to call me? Softie. They just had to say it and I would say yes, and I was sitting- And they hadn’t gone ten minutes [emphasis] and the bell rang from headquarters, ‘Bed all balloons’ and I thought, ‘Oh gosh what do I do?’. You’ve got to have an eight crew to do that ‘cause everybody has their individual job, and my brother was on the next site (he’s as daft as a brush) and I rang him and I said, ‘Can you come round and help me?’. So, he came round, and he said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I said, ‘Can you drive the winch, that reels in the balloon?,’ and on the balloon, you’ve got fifteen feet and then you’ve got a bag, and then another fifteen feet and you’ve got another bag. Now the thing was, that they hoped a plane would come along, go in that bit in between, cut the wire and it would cling on to their plane wing, saw the wing off and it would down the plane. I think it did, one or two times, I'm not sure, I’m sure I'd heard that they’d done it a few times. Well, he gets into this winch- Honest, I can’t tell you how- I stood there watching him and I thought, ‘Oh god, what is he doing?’. And he did that, and they fired, and off the balloon went, and I had to ring headquarters and had to speak to a Sergeant Starky, so he came round about an hour later, asked me what I'd done and I told him, and I said, ‘Have they found it yet?’. He said, ‘Yes, they’ve shot it down over Switzerland.’ And that was the end of my [unclear], he said, ‘Don’t let me ever [emphasis] see you do that again.’ It wasn’t my fault, but I got the blame. Anyway, that’s the story.
GT: Did they post you from barrage balloons, away- At that time or did you stay on for a while?
ID: No, I was there for a while. I was there until I went down to- God, it’s down London ways. You go there, to be tested and the officer that I was with up in Stockport had put my name down to go down there to be tested. This is to get your stripes. I went down there, we were there for three weeks, and they test everything you do on the balloon. Well, I was living off everybody else's brains. I mean, I was standing next to a girl and we were standing there in a group, and the instructor was there, and he asked the girl to do something with the balloon and she hadn’t done it, and it was to untie- The balloon was tied to hold it down, she hadn’t done that right, and then a girl standing next to me said [whispering under her breath], ‘She hasn’t untied the balloon,’ I said, [louder] ‘She hasn’t untied the balloon,’ he said, ‘Give that girl marks’ [chuckles] I got the marks and they didn’t. But that’s how I think- I mean, as I say, there was twenty-two girls on the course at the time, and I'm sure there was no more than four or five when you go up for the last day and they tell you whether you- I mean, there was a girl there called something King, a blonde girl, she come from London and she really studied hard, every night she studied, and I was going out enjoying myself, I thought, ‘I’m just here for a party and a nice time,’ I never [emphasis] did any studying. Anyway, at the end of the day, I went in and- As I say, there was these three ladies and two men at a table, and they just looked down the page and they said, ‘Congratulations Corporal,’ and that’s how I got my stripes. I really didn’t deserve them, not really. But, then on- I mean I was ok, it was then that I was sent to- Down to Swansea again, and, it was so [emphasis] remote, there was that place and the next place to it and I was at a place called St Mawgan. I’d never been to Wales, but I didn’t like it, for the simple reason, the people were awful. They used to- If you were in a pub, sitting there and they would come in, they would be talking in English, the minute they saw you in uniform, they’d go back to their dialogue- Welsh, you know. I don’t know why they didn’t want you to hear, I mean I wasn’t bothered about what they were doing, I really couldn’t have cared less, but I do think- I mean, I don’t probably think they’re like that now, but they were like that then. I’m sure things have changed, I'm sure, but I don’t like Wales. Oh, dark, drab place, it really is.
GT: So, when you were as a corporal with the balloons there- You had a bit of competition?
ID: A competition?
GT: You had some competition with the other girls I hear? And one of them-
ID: Oh no, no, I still acted as if I was one of the girls, and I was smartly told off, I wasn’t.
GT: Did you get your sergeants stripes?
ID: Yes, I did, but as I say, when he came round, the officer, one day, a man, I said, ‘I don’t want them anymore, I really don’t, you don’t get paid enough.’ So, he said, ‘I think you’re very silly,’ I said, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘Your sergeants stripe came through this morning,’ [chuckles] I said, ‘Oh right’. Because from then, I went from one-thirty a fortnight to four-pound-forty a fortnight, thought I’ll have that, yes. That was good, I had that. So that’s why I took it actually [chuckles]. Honestly- No I was ok as a sergeant but I never got any further, that was all I got up to, for five years.
GT: So now, tell me how you met Mauri, because we’ve got, we’ve got Mauri, Flying Officer Maurice Edward Dare, a pilot from New Zealand and he arrived in around about March 1944 to England, and so, from there how did you meet him?
ID: Well, I was on this site up in London in Clapham Common and there was a girl there called Tina, she was a corporal, and I, I mean, I wasn’t a friend of hers, I didn’t go out with her at all. Do you know what she used to go- Have you heard of David Niven? She used to go out with him. She was the most gorgeous looking girl, blonde hair, beautiful teeth, beautiful skin - She had everything, and one night, in the summer there was- Her girls, she’d sent them on the day off, or evening off and she was going to go off too, and it was my night off, and she said, ‘Are you doing anything?’ and I said, ‘Not really’, she said, ‘Well, would you like to come with me to town?’, and I said, ‘Yeah, ok’. I’d never been with her before, and we go up there and I said, ‘Have you got any special place in mind?’, she said, ‘Oh, I think’ (How she knew it, I don’t know) she said, ‘I’m gonna- I think we’ll go to the New Zealand officers club’. I said, ‘Oh right, ok, never been to that before’. So, we went in, there was an empty table, we sat down, the next table was Mauri and I think four or five of his crew, and we sat there for a while, didn’t seem to get very far and she said, ‘You think we should go?’, I said, ‘Well, not much going on here’. So, we got up to go and Mauri looked across, he said, ‘Are you going?’, and I looked, I said ‘Well we thought about it’. He said, ‘Why don’t you join us?’. So, I would think as a I say, there was four men of his crew with him, and three of them left him and Danny Boon. Now, Tina went to sit next to Danny Boon and I’d sat next to Mauri, and we had the evening with them and then they took us back to Clapham Common, and the next morning, they were out there, when we were doing something to the balloon, I looked and they were standing at the railings, and Mauri was swinging a key. I said, ‘What are you doing with that?’, he said, ‘We’ve just booked into a hotel across the road’ [chuckles] and they were on a week's holiday. So, we went out the first night, she went with Danny and I went with Mauri. The next night, she said to me, ‘Can we swap because I like yours better than mine?’, I said, ‘Don’t be silly, you can’t do that, that’s terrible’, so she said, ‘Oh, I thought you might change, ‘cause I’m not keen on that one’. But, she ended up marrying him, really, Danny Boon of Whakatāne and his family are supposed to be the most well-known people in that area, and I mean, Danny when he married Tina, on the property they had he built a house because the big house was where his mother used to live with her two daughters and Tina, she’s a cockney, she just says what she thinks, you know? And the mother-in-law said to her one day, ‘Tina, did you know we had a lady in our family?’, and Tina just said, ‘Well, I think we’ve all [emphasis] got a bow to our- We’ve all got a something to our bow’ [laughs]. She was, she was awful. But, anyway, being as he only had two sisters, the mother died, so of course he took over and he went to live in the big house but he then supplied a house for his two sisters, and he let the house that he’d had down from the house to a chap that was working on the farm. So, we went down once to have a weekend with him, and we had to get up at four o’clock in the morning, and Mauri was supposed to milk the cows and there was just two little calves that had just been born, and I said to Danny, ‘What have you called them?’, he said, ‘Well let Marcia name them’. So she named them Marci and Andrea [laughs] the two little calves.
GT: That was after the war-
ID: Oh yes, after.
GT: But I would like to know, how you and Mauri got on, and how you knew he was a flyer? Did he tell you?
ID: Flying. Well, I didn’t always know when he was flying, but if he could tell me he would, but I mean sometimes he would come over the house that we were renting at the time, it was a village, he’d dip down and go up and dip down again, I used to have the kids standing outside waving to him [chuckles]. You could see him [emphasis] in the cockpit, he was so low.
GT: Did he tell you he was flying on 75 Squadron, or couldn’t he tell you anything?
ID: Oh yes, he told me. Yes, he told me. But I didn’t know what 75th Squadron meant.
GT: Oh [emphasis] 75 Squadron, not 75th.
ID: Well, isn’t it the only one in New Zealand?
GT: Oh, now it is, but back then it was 75 New Zealand Squadron Royal Air Force, yeah. So, so when he was flying and doing his ops, did he let you know or?
ID: If he could.
GT: You’d become a couple by then, had you?
ID: Oh yes, yes, and we were in a village and not far up the road, was the station where he was. If he wanted a babysitter, he would get a young chap and a young chap came down one night and he said, ‘Can I ask, what is your name?’, I said, ‘Dare’, he said ‘Dare, any relation to Charlie Dare?’, I said, ‘It’s Mauri’s brother’, he said, ‘See these teeth? He filled them in the camp’. He was training to be a dentist, and when he got back to New Zealand, the government offered to pay for him to finish training and become a complete dentist.
GT: So that was Mauri’s brother?
ID: Yes.
GT: So Mauri’s brother RNZAF, and he joined-
ID: He- Charlie, there was only the two brothers there was no daughters in their family at all. But, Charlie, I mean after- He was shot down on the first trip, so he was a prisoner of war for four-and-a-half years, a sorry mess when he came home, very sorry mess. Crippled with arthritis because of lack of food. I mean, he told me one day that the Gestapo had come into their camp, stopped at their Nissen Hut where they were and they had a horse and trap and when they came out to get their horse and trap, it was just the trap. They’d taken the horse, killed it and eaten it. He said, they used to scrape the scrap heaps where the cook had put them out, (potato peelings, things like that) boil them up and put- I don’t know, they used to get some beans or something from the Germans, they didn’t feed them well, not at all. But-
GT: And Mauri got to see Charlie after the air force, but- Now, when did you marry Mauri?
ID: Eight months after I met him.
GT: And he was still flying on operations at the time?
ID: Yes, but he was on holiday that week.
GT: And where did you marry?
ID: At Clapham Common, where I was stationed. I was there, oh quite a while, up in London. Clapham Common was where we were married and we were married in a church that was bombed the night before and the altar where you- At the top, the minister told us to do kneeling, he said, ‘I can’t ask you to kneel, because it’s all broken glass down here’. But the morning we were supposed to marry, I stayed with another girl, it’s on my wedding photos, she’s the corporal, I stayed with her. Got ready the next morning, came to the church, I managed- I don’t know, oh I know, there was a chap I'd met from the army at Catterick camp, and- Oh it’s long before I met Mauri, and he became a prisoner of war, I had forgotten about him and then all of a sudden I got this letter that they sent from Germany and it was from him [emphasis] and it said he was sending me fifty pound, and I thought, ‘What is he doing?’, I wrote back, I said, ‘Why are you sending me fifty pounds?’, he said, ‘I want you to buy an engagement ring’, and I got- He gave me the address of his mother, she lived I think in Manchester, so I got in touch with her and I said, ‘I’ve got to send you this money because I don’t want to get engaged to him, I really don’t’. So, she said, ‘If he gave you that money, then you keep that money’. So, I used that money to buy my plain clothes to get married to Mauri [chuckles], aren’t I horrible?
GT: Who was your best man?
ID: Warren [unclear], navigator of his.
GT: The navigator of Mauri’s crew.
ID: I didn’t know the rest of the crew.
GD: Yeah.
ID: I’m surprised that anybody of their left alive.
GT: Well, just to briefly mention the crew of Mauri. So, you had Mauri Dare as the pilot, G. Warren as the navigator, N. McDonald as the bomb aimer, W. Neville as the wireless operator, J. Dunbar as the flight engineer, A. Bannon as the mid-upper gunner and G. Lawton as the rear gunner, and currently, as of July 2018, Norman McDonald the bomb aimer and Alf Bannan the mid-upper gunner are still alive in New Zealand.
ID: Well, I mean I don’t know how friendly he was with these men, but he never mentioned them, only the guy that was our best man, and at the time Mauri had just got his commission and he had no money, so that Warren chap lent him a hundred-pound [chuckles] and as soon as he got paid his back money, he paid him back of course. But, ah the times, I wish it was now, I wish I was in it now. I really [emphasis] do, it was much better than anything I’ve been in, and I would’ve- I mean, my girlfriend back in New Zealand, she was- She came from Scotland, she- I’ve asked you, haven’t I? Did you hear- Have you heard of Whitecliff Saw Mill? It’s just outside Auckland. Well, Jimmy, his father owned that, and he had three brothers, and when he went back to New Zealand, the father died and they were supposed to share, the four of them, but the other three, apart from Jim, didn’t want it. So he raised money to pay them out and he took it, and he’d married Jan. Now, when we got to New Zealand, we stayed with Mauri’s mother and we were there about three months, and Charlie, he was in something- The [unclear] flag, I think, renting, and he wanted to be somewhere near. He’d got in touch with the, the chap that I told you- There was Mr Butland[?] that got made Sir Butland[?] with the money, he gave seventy-five-thousand, he said it was his profits, he gave it to England to help the war effort, and he got knighted for it, and his wife, Mrs Butland- I mean, he was going flying around in- Oh god- A big American car, blue, blue something and she had this little old Austin, she wouldn’t change, and her and I got on absolutely famous. When we left, she said- She sent word when we came back when he had the Panama Canal thing, she sent word she wanted to see us and I went up to this big house in Remuera and she gave me a present and she had a lovely silver cigarette case for Mauri with his initials on and a picture of New Zealand, and she had for Marcia a lovely little pair of patent leather shoes, and we were sitting there talking and I heard in the distance something like a bell, and I said, ‘What’s that?’, and she said, ‘Oh, it’s a bell in the far wing’. They had tennis courts, swimming pool everything, but she never, ever, would’ve let anybody think that she had anything. I mean she was so down to earth but her family, all like that.
GT: Now, Iris take me back to the, the end of ‘44, you’d married Mauri and Mauri was continuing with air operations. During that time, did you ever worry about losing Mauri?
ID: Tomorrow?
GT: Did you ever worry about losing Mauri, being shot down for instance?
ID: Oh gosh, yes, yes, absolutely. But as soon as he could he would ring through and let me- Oh, I mean not me, the neighbour that had a phone, not many people had a phone in those days, not a landline. I mean, mobiles never heard of anyway. But they would- Yes, he would let me know but- For going over, as I say, he would write a letter and he’d put a cross on the bottom and he told me previously, if I ever do that, you know I'm going on a raid and- I mean, it was quite often he did that, and that was a night raid.
GT: So, you were in Clapham and he was in Mepal, so he would write you a letter, how long did it take for that letter to get from him to you? Couple of days?
ID: Just, different things that were going on, but nothing that would give away any secrets what so ever, never.
GT: Did he ever have any black marks on his letter?
ID: No [emphasis], no, that was only [chuckles] when this chap in the army was writing to me, I thought, ‘There’s not much of a letter left there, only a couple of words’, so silly. I mean, they never mentioned the war, I don’t know what the Germans were afraid of.
GT: So that was- Oh you mean the British Intelligence because they were worried about censorship of the letters, I understand, yeah.
ID: I’m sorry I didn’t get-
GT: So that was the censorship of the letters wasn’t it? So, so, ok, so did you ever go to Mepal to visit Mauri?
ID: To visit?
GT: Yeah, did you visit Mauri in Mepal air base?
ID: Oh yes, yes. In fact my granddaughter took him just after he’d had his first stroke when he was seventy-something to a base near Peterborough. She took him for the day, and he got down there and there was three chaps waiting for him, to show him around and then they took him into the officer’s mess for lunch, and they took him onto the plane and my granddaughter said, honestly, she said, ‘They were trying to tell him what was going on’, she said, ‘He absolutely floored them, he knew all, they didn’t have to tell him, he knew it all’. It had all come back, I was amazed, he’d had his stroke, but it wasn’t severe.
GT: Ok, but in World War Two though, when you were at Mepal air base, did you go into any of the pubs in Sutton or- And Ely or anything like that?
ID: Yeah.
GT: Yeah, which ones?
ID: Oh.
GT: All of them?
ID: The Green Man, was one, a little, a really little old pub, I don’t know, very, very old, very old.
GT: Chequers? The pub, Chequers? Or, The Green Pickerel? The Three Pickerels? No, ok- Well, now when Mauri finished his tour in December ‘44, what happened to Mauri after that? Did he fly anymore?
ID: No, he only did the four years and then he was put- Sent back home. Well, or course they sent him on a boat, and he I think went on the Rangitiki, and I went on the- The one I went on, was a patient carrier with like a sick hospital and if you have children, they had a special room for the children, and they get looked after for the night.
GT: So, did you have children by then?
ID: Yeah, I had Marcia.
GT: Marcia, oh, when was she born?
ID: She was born in 1940…- Halfway between 1945 and ‘46.
GT: And then when did you sail to New Zealand? When did you follow? 1946?
ID: I can’t- Yeah. As I say, we only took the normal- That they were supposed to do, and then we went back but, there was no planes flying there at the time it was all boats, and I know he was on one boat and I was on the next one, every stop- When we got to Suez Canal thing, he was on one side of the canal and I was on the other, and he rang me from there, yeah, and we spoke, yeah, I don’t know whose phone, whether it was their phone, his phone or any, I've no idea, but I was quite surprised but yes- Took six weeks to get there, six weeks [emphasis]. Mind, I enjoyed it. It was lovely, I got to know one of the chaps on the- That used to serve the meals, and I just used to say, ‘That was a nice pudding, can I have another?’, ‘I’ll see what I can do’, and he used to get me another pudding [chuckles].
GT: So, when you arrived then to New Zealand, what air- What seaport did you go into?
ID: Wellington. That’s when we came up on the train and I said to him, asked him each stop, Paekākāriki, ‘Don’t be silly Mauri, what is it called?’, ‘Paekākāriki’.
GT: And it’s still Paekākāriki. Oh right, so, Mauri was living in Auckland by then?
ID: Oh yes, his mother, she was English, she had gone there with her father when she was young from Essex in London. He had an antique shop and he opened one in- When he got to Auckland, he opened it in the next, what do they call- Oh god, New something it’s called, now I forget, and he opened it there and then he came- He went to live with his- Mauri’s mother had a sister, and he went to live with her, but he was a wonderful old man, him and I got on like a house on fire, he- I used to sit and talk to him and he used to say to me, ‘Nobody ever does that, nobody sits and talks to me’. He used to ask me about London, the tubes and things like that and he said to me one day, ‘The Elephant and Castle and another station, and then another one, but something happened to that middle one, what was it?’, I said, ‘It was bombed on the entrance and it flooded and eight-hundred people were trapped and killed, eight hundred people’. So, I loved talking to him because you could talk about England. But oh boy, I don’t think I enjoyed my days in England like I did in New Zealand, I loved Auckland. Absolutely, and never got to see the South Island, I never got there.
GT: So, how long did you stay in New Zealand then, before you came back to England?
ID: Nineteen years.
GT: You were nineteen years in New Zealand?
ID: I mean, the girl in the hospital just recently said to me, ‘Where do you come from? What’s your accent?’, I said, ‘I haven’t got an accent’, she said, ‘You have’, I said, ‘Well what do you make it?’, she said, ‘Australian?’ I said, ‘Oh gosh, no’, she said, ‘Then it’s got to be New Zealand’, I said, ‘Right, you’re right there’. Absolutely loved that country, I do. But my friend, Jan, the one I told you that married the chap with the timber mill, she died three month ago, ninety-six, the same- A year- No, a year younger than me and I was friends with her for nearly seventy years and we- Mind it was me, we never had a cross word. Well, it wasn’t me that was- It was her she wouldn’t argue with you. She came over, for my eightieth birthday as a big surprise. Absolutely wonderful, I was devastated when she died. But actually, she hadn’t been too bad and then suddenly her son sent a text message to Andrea and said that she’d deteriorated in the last three weeks.
GT: So, if we just go back to Mauri for a moment. Now, Mauri had a serious stroke in July 1997?
ID: Yeah.
GT: And he died a little bit later, yeah?
ID: He had another one, I mean he said to me- He’d had the stroke, for about two or three weeks and he said to me, ‘You know, I could have another one,’ I said, ‘Don’t say that, you’re wishing that on yourself’, he said, ‘Well, it could happen’, and it did. He was- When he was up in bed, couldn’t move. So I immediately got the doctor and they left the surgery immediately, they’ve only got to come down the road, and they looked at him and they said, ‘Yes, he’s had another stroke’, and- Before they came, he turned- He tried to turn over, fell out of bed on the floor, and I had to ring my son in law and say, ‘Please come and help, I can’t get him up’, he was a dead weight, and they came- I can’t tell you, a hundred miles along the high road to get here, but we got him up anyway and took him to- He was supposed to go to Queens but they took him to the city and he didn’t like the city, if only he knew today that that’s the better place than Queen. But he kept saying, ‘If you take me back to Queens, I’ll be ok’. But they put some tubes up his nose to his stomach to feed him, and he kept pulling them out [emphasis] and then they’d have to go down to the- Take him down to operating room, put them in again, he’d pull them out.
GT: Did Mauri ever talk about his time on 75 Squadron to you, after the war?
ID: Oh yes, yes. Probably- Not anything important, but he loved being a New Zealander, he really did.
GT: Did he like being a pilot?
ID: Yes, but honestly, my granddaughter has gone into everything that he’s done, she’s right up to date with them, but she did say that when he was tested. He did a course over in Ireland for weather. I mean, I don’t know why he did that, but he did that course, and on the thing upstairs, the picture with his medals, he’s only got five, and none of them are really important, they’re just medals that anybody would get, but he’s got this little thing at the bottom saying he did this course for meteorology. I don’t know why he did it, I have no idea.
GT: But his time with 75 Squadron, and for that matter, bomber command, he did his job with purpose and also because he was fighting for King and country, yeah?
ID: Yeah.
GT: Yep, and he didn’t have any regrets as to what he did?
ID: No, never, no.
GT: That’s good.
ID: He loved doing it, but as I say, when he was tested once, his landing. The chap said, ‘He needs a lot of review on the landing’ [chuckles].
GT: I’m sure he refined that later, yeah, well that’s fascinating. Alright, so then, if we go back to when your time in New Zealand then, when did you come back to England, to live?
ID: Well, the first time I came back after eighteen months I’d been there, I was homesick, but I’d no sooner got- And I was six weeks on the boat, and no sooner got back and thought, ‘I’ve done the wrong thing, I know I've done the wrong thing’. I couldn’t wait to get back, I couldn’t, but, as I say, I don’t know, I can’t remember if that’s when Mauri got discharged or what? But-
GT: Was this, was this feeling you had about homesick, was that the same for all the other wives, all the other ladies that followed New Zealanders back home?
ID: I- It probably was, but I never knew them after we arrived in New Zealand. I never had anything. I did- I kept in touch- Well he kept in touch with me, the chap that looked after Marcia in the- Where they were looking after the babies, he took to Marcia. I mean, one day the father was out of his house, and he had a little veranda, and he was on this veranda, he saw this car going up and down and it stopped in front of him, and he said, ‘Can I help you?’, he said, ‘I’m looking for the Dare’s’, he said, ‘Oh, it’s here, who do you want?’. He wanted me, and when I went out to him he had presents for me and for Marcia and he wanted me to divorce Mauri and marry him. I said to him, ‘You must be joking’. I mean, he was a nice enough guy but, I mean, he never on the ship, he never spent the money that he had for wages, because he kept- I don’t know why he kept them but, he said his father owned four warehouses, so I don’t know if he had money or not. I mean, I liked him as a friend, what he did for Marcia, but no way I wanted to marry him.
GT: So, did Mauri follow you to England, did he?
ID: Who?
GT: Mauri?
ID: Yeah.
GT: He followed you to England?
ID: Yeah.
GT: And how many years did you stay here in England then?
ID: Years.
GT: Oh, oh, from the time that Mauri left New Zealand you didn’t go back? Twenty years?
ID: I can’t- Oh gosh no, no, it was much less than that, much, much less. He said, ‘You know, if you want to stay here, I’m willing to do so’, and I thought, ‘Well, my mother and father died very young’, I said ‘Well, I've got relatives but they’re not that important, no, we’ll go where you want to go’. That’s when we went home and stayed with his mother for three month. Until Charlie got the offer of two flats and after he picked one, his mother said, ‘Why don’t you let Maurice have the other one?’. So that’s when, we went that night with Mauri’s father to this address we had, Mauri went down to the door, the father and I stood back, and he knocked on the door, all I heard was, ‘Mauri?’ and another voice, this chap from- That had the saw mill thing, he’d been with Mauri in 75 Squadron, so of course we got the flat. It was a big house, and he’d broken it up into three flats. So, we got the front one, and that’s when we became friends with Jim, and he, I mean his wife Jan from Scotland was having the first baby, and he said to me, ‘Can you, if I ring you at about three, I'll come and see you at three o’clock in the morning, will you come with me to the hospital?’, I said, ‘Yes of course I will’, and he did, it was three o’clock in the morning, he knocked on the bedroom window, ‘Iris’.
GT: Who was Jim?
ID: Jim?
GT: Jim wo?
ID: Taylor. The one that I told you, that Mauri had been with in the 75 Squadron. Jim Taylor.
GT: 75 Squadron?
ID: Yeah, and he’s dead now, he died, gosh, Jan- She told me not so long ago, a few years since he died. But he, was a clever man, he won the DFC.
GT: He was awarded it?
ID: He had-
GT: He was awarded the DFC?
ID: Yes.
GT: Yeah.
ID: He did something, but it was a- Like a navy and white stripe little badge and he won that. It was something for bravery, I don’t know what it was, I have no idea.
GT: Fascinating...
[The interview has been edited here as the interviewee spoke about personal, post war matters.]
GT: Well, the reason Iris that I'm in your home now interviewing you is because someone in your family saw my name on the internet and told Andrea, and Andrea contacted me only a matter of weeks ago, and whilst I'm travelling in England now, this is the reason I've come to visit you in your place, and-
ID: Well, Andrea told Marcia all about it and Marci said, ‘Don’t do it’, she said, ‘Could be a hoax’, I said, ‘Oh for goodness sake Marcia’.
GT: [Chuckles] I’m no hoax. However, it’s been lovely chatting with you about your husband Mauri who was on 75 New Zealand Squadron RAF, and he was part of Bomber Command, he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force and also became part of the Royal Air Force in 1944. He completed a full tour of ops on 75 NZ Squadron, from Mepal and he obviously fought for King and countries [emphasis] ‘cause it was England and New Zealand he was fighting for.
ID: Absolutely, absolutely, but I didn’t know till you told me that he’d been to Canada.
GT: All training from the Australian and New Zealanders and Canadians and British later, but was done in the Canadian training scheme and various stations right across Canada. So the tens of thousands of airmen that moved across the pacific, they were trained in Canada and then they were shipped across to England to carry on their training before they joined operational squadrons, and some of those chaps may have trained for nearly two years, before they got to England. So, it was great dedication. All volunteers.
ID: Well, I do remember him mentioning- Well, I thought he said was Banff, and I got the idea that that was in Canada. It is? Oh [chuckles].
GT: There you go.
ID: But he didn’t talk much about it. Didn’t tell me much about that at all. I think he enjoyed being here, he liked England. I said, ‘No, we’re not stopping here, we’re going to New Zealand’. I was dead keen to go to New Zealand, but I didn’t think when he took me down to the boat, do you know? He went for free, but he had to pay for me and Marcia, and I can remember, it was a hundred and something pound, to pay for us to go there. I can remember him paying it when we got down there to the boat. Went from Southampton.
GT: There were many ships that went back to New Zealand with servicemen and wives from England-
ID: Oh yes, I know there was a lot went. I don’t know- Mind, a lot came back too. Glad to get rid of them. No, I was a very- After my first eighteen months, and I was homesick, was so stupid, and I went back and I thought, ‘Well I’ll never do that again’, and I didn’t, and I loved living in Auckland, absolutely. I was so happy there, really was. I mean, what’s? Oh no you wouldn’t know, this chap here, what’s his name? He’s a- He’s in the midlands, he’s dead now but- He died just recently. He used to have a- Funny comedian, funny stick, and I mean, when I first got to New Zealand, I got this job in credit control and where I lived the houses were there, and then there was the road and then more houses, and another one behind that, and that one the bus used to go round there and come down our road. This lady, was on the bus- Oh quite a few days, and I got to sit next to her one day and I got talking, and she said, ‘I’ve just had a CD from my cousin in England’, and I said, ‘Oh what does he do?’, and she said, ‘Well, he’s a comedian but he’s not very well known’. So, I said, ‘Well what’s his name?’, and she mentioned it and I said, ‘Never heard of him’. Well, it was only after that I realised when I came back, who he was, and he was very well known. I mean, I didn’t realise that was her cousin. Amazing how you meet people. But I met a lot of people from New Zealand when I came back here, that had come back and I used to say, ‘Why did you come back [emphasis]?’ I would’ve never (apart from my first eighteen months), I would never have wanted to come back. As I’ve said to Andrea many times, ‘I wish I had never left’. Honestly, it was only through- We used to go to bowls, and he met this couple from South Africa, they were there and her father became very ill and they were called back to South Africa, and they must’ve said to Mauri, ‘Why don’t you come to South Africa?’. He came home one Saturday, he said, ‘Do you want to go to South Africa?’, I said, ‘What for?’, he just- Our house that we had, when we bought it, was ordinary, ordinary windows. He took them all out, he put ranch sliders in, he’d built the kids bedroom furniture, and I mean, he used to say, ‘I’m not a good carpenter’, I’d say, ‘You’ll do me, absolutely, very good’, I thought. But, Jim Taylor, the one that he was with in the 75th Squadron, as I say, they owned this timber company and Mauri ordered some wood from him once, and they were delivered, put on our front lawn. But you think we could get Jim to give us a bill? And Mauri said, ‘I can’t ask him for any more wood, if he won’t take the money’. He was a lovely man Jim. He idolised Marcia, ‘cause when she was three-month-old, he used to take her about nine o’clock at night, when it was dark, outside and he’d say, ‘What’s that Marcia?’, she’d say, ‘Tar’ and then he’d say something else that didn’t refer to the star, ‘What’s that Marcia?’, ‘Tar’ [chuckles]. He loved it.
GT: So, what did Mauri do as a job once he came back to England?
ID: He became- He went to a warehouse and he’d been there before the war, think he’d been there from leaving school, and he got on very well with- In the linen department there was a man that was manager of the linen department, and Mauri became manager of the linen department.
GT: And where was that?
ID: In Auckland.
GT: And once you guys came back to England, what did Mauri do then?
ID: I think he stayed there until we came back here, and then he got a job with Paton and Baldwin Wools and he worked for them for quite a while, and then my eldest daughter was married to a chap who was a managing director of a big curtain company, and he got Mauri a job with them. But, I mean, Mauri found out that this son-in-law wasn’t very nice and he didn’t want to make any arguments about it, but this son-in-law had said to somebody, ‘He got the job because I got him the job’, and Mauri said, ‘I was told’- He told me, ‘I said to him did you help get me the job the job? He said, no you got it on your own merit’. But he lied. Mauri was very upset.
GT: So, when did Mauri retire?
ID: What?
GT: Did he- When did Mauri retire?
ID: I think it was- It’s changed now, it was sixty, sixty, that’s when he retired.
GT: Retired at age sixty. Brilliant. Well, Iris, you’ve had a rather a bad couple of months there with tripping over and falling out of your car and injuring yourself badly, and now breaking your wrist et cetera, so I’m very honoured that you’re able to sit here and tell me about your lovely husband and his career and your life, and, I think it’s time now for me to finish our interview and the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln will be very pleased to hear of your time and your recollections from that era, which obviously you were a great part of, and also marrying into Bomber Command people.
ID: Well, I’ve loved every minute, I really have, I’ve enjoyed it, and it was so [emphasis] nice to meet you.
GT: Well, thank you very much Iris, and it’s lovely to meet somebody from the 75 Squadron people and I'm very grateful for, for your daughter allowing me to come and have a chat with you, and from your injuries I hope you mend well, ninety-six, that’s a tough road.
ID: Well, I'm glad you met Andrea.
GT: Yep, thank you very much.
ID: She’s a lovely person.
GT: Yep, that’s good and she looks after you very well I can tell
ID: But, she’s so like her dad, she really is.
GT: Yeah.
ID: She perspires like him.
GT: [Chuckles]
ID: When he used to do the garden, she’d have to put a band round- It used to stream down [chuckles].
GT: But obviously he was a great flyer and he committed himself to King and country and that’s, that’s a huge attribute.
ID: Yes, I think he was pretty good, apart from the landing.
GT: Oh, I think he got better.
ID: This chap said, ‘Leaves a lot to be desired’ [chuckles].
GT: But he completed a full tour of ops.
ID: Do you know what? When we got back to New Zealand and he’d finished with the RAF, there was an ad in the paper that Qantas were looking for pilots, the same day the RAF were asking for pilots to come to England and he thought, ‘Oh, dear what should I do?’. So, he applied for both, and he got both [chuckles] and then when he said, ‘Which do you want me to take?’, of course I said, ‘England’ stupidly, and that’s when we came back. But then once we got back permanently, I said, ‘I don’t want to go back there, I really don’t, I’m quite happy here’. But I mean he said, you know, I mean, he didn’t have much to do with his mother and father, although his father was a very nice man, the mother didn’t like her at all. She just took a dislike to me, I don’t know- I never did anything to her. When I got to Wellington, she was there to meet us, she took Marcia out of my arms and walked away. Never said hello, the father turned round and he called her, ‘Mum, aren’t you gonna say hello to Iris?’, ‘Oh, hello’. All she wanted was Marcia because she’d only had two sons, she wanted a daughter.
GT: Well, it’s amazing that you guys came back to England because many, many British brides stayed in New Zealand for the rest of their lives, and you must be one of the few that came back this way. But look, Iris it’s lovely to have chatted with you, thank you very much for allowing me to talk with you
ID: You’re more than welcome.
GT: And, and I wish you well with getting better and so, thank you and we’ll sign off our interview now yes?
ID: Thank you very much.
GT: Thank you, Iris, bye-bye.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Iris Dare
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Glen Turner
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-07-04
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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ADareI180704
Format
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00:58:54 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Balloon Command
Royal New Zealand Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
New Zealand
Switzerland
England--Cambridgeshire
England--London
England--Stockport
New Zealand--Auckland
Wales--Swansea
England--Lancashire
Description
An account of the resource
Iris was born in a village outside Newcastle. At the beginning of 1940 she went to Gosforth to join up for the Royal Air Force. Iris liked the idea of uniformed service more than the option of becoming a nurse. She was then sent to Swansea for about 18 months to train as a balloon operator, which involved a lot of heavy work. She was paid £1.30 for two weeks but loved her time in the Royal Air Force. Iris was posted to Stockport on balloons but later on she became a driver. She explained what working on balloons involved – splicing ropes, lifting concrete blocks and looking after the balloons. Nicknamed 'softy', she allowed her eight girls to go to the pub while being the corporal in charge of 16 girls, eight working each night. Despite her brother’s help, the balloon got loose and was eventually found in Switzerland. Iris went to the London area for three weeks to be tested for her sergeant’s stripes, which she gained although she admitted that she hadn’t deserved them. She then returned to Swansea, but she did not like Wales because people used to speak in English, but when they saw them in uniform, they switched immediately to Welsh so that they could not be understood.
Iris met Maurice at the New Zealand Officers Club in London and they married eight months later at a church that had been bombed the day before at Clapham Common. Maurice was born in June 1922 in Newcastle. In January 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force and from 1944 he flew as a New Zealand Lancaster pilot with 75 Squadron Maurice had completed a full tour of operations. In July 2019, Norman McDonald and Alf Bannon were the only two surviving members of his crew, still alive in New Zealand. Maurice never expressed regrets about what he had done during the war. His brother Charlie had been a prisoner of war. After Maurice finished a tour in December 1944, having done four years, he and Iris went back to New Zealand. Their first daughter, Marcia, was born in 1945 and Andrea followed. They stayed in New Zealand for 19 years before returning to England. Before the war Maurice had worked in a warehouse. After the war he became manager of the linen department of a warehouse in Auckland. On return to England he got a job with Paton & Baldwin Wools.
Contributor
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Sue Smith
Adalberto Di Corato
Tilly Foster
Jean Massie
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940
1944
75 Squadron
aircrew
ground personnel
Lancaster
love and romance
military service conditions
Navy, Army and Air Force Institute
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Mepal
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1963/41315/BLazenbyHJLazenbyHJv1.2.pdf
35022f62bb4527b9a7da34bd424ec42f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lazenby, Harold Jack
H J Lazenby
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-10-10
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Lazenby, HJ
Description
An account of the resource
11 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Harold Jack Lazenby DFC (b. 1917, 652033 Royal Air Force) and contains his memoir, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 57, 97 and 7 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Daniel, H Jack Lazenby and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
H Jack Lazenby DFC
Description
An account of the resource
Harold Jack Lazenby's autobiography.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Warrington
England--Wolverhampton
England--Shifnal (Shropshire)
England--London
England--Bampton (Oxfordshire)
England--Witney
England--Oxford
England--Cambridge
France--Paris
England--Portsmouth
England--Oxfordshire
England--Southrop (Oxfordshire)
England--Cirencester
England--Skegness
England--Worcestershire
England--Birmingham
England--Kidderminster
England--Gosport
England--Fareham
England--Southsea
Wales--Margam
Wales--Port Talbot
Wales--Bridgend
Wales--Porthcawl
England--Urmston
England--Stockport
Wales--Cardiff
Wales--Barry
United States
New York (State)--Long Island
Illinois--Chicago
England--Gloucester
Scotland--Kilmarnock
England--Surrey
England--Liverpool
England--Lincolnshire
England--Lincoln
Denmark--Anholt
Poland--Gdańsk
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Essen
Germany--Kiel
Europe--Mont Blanc
Denmark
England--Hull
Czech Republic--Plzeň
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Mablethorpe
Germany--Cologne
Italy--Turin
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
England--Land's End Peninsula
Italy--San Polo d'Enza
Italy--Genoa
Italy--Milan
Algeria
Algeria--Blida
Algeria--Atlas de Blida Mountains
England--Cambridge
England--Surrey
England--Ramsey (Cambridgeshire)
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Munich
France--Montluçon
Germany--Darmstadt
Scotland--Elgin
England--York
Scotland--Aberdeen
England--Grimsby
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Zeitz
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Wanne-Eickel
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Heide (Schleswig-Holstein)
Germany--Wuppertal
Germany--Homberg (Kassel)
Netherlands--Westerschelde
Germany--Rheine
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Helgoland
Germany--Bremen
Netherlands--Rotterdam
Belgium
England--Southend-on-Sea
England--Morecambe
England--Kineton
England--Worcester
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Mülheim an der Ruhr
England--London
Italy--La Spezia
France--Dunkerque
Poland--Szczecin
Poland
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Recklinghausen (Münster)
Netherlands
England--Sheringham
England--Redbridge
France--Saint-Nazaire
Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea)
Germany
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
United States Army Air Force
Royal Air Force. Transport Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
99 printed sheets
Identifier
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BLazenbyHJLazenbyHJv1
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lazenby, Harold Jack
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Conforms To
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Pending text-based transcription
1654 HCU
20 OTU
207 Squadron
4 Group
5 Group
57 Squadron
617 Squadron
7 Squadron
97 Squadron
air gunner
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
B-24
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of Helgoland (18 April 1945)
briefing
Catalina
Chamberlain, Neville (1869-1940)
crewing up
debriefing
demobilisation
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
Distinguished Service Order
Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation (16–17 May 1943)
entertainment
flight engineer
flight mechanic
Flying Training School
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
Gibson, Guy Penrose (1918-1944)
ground crew
ground personnel
H2S
Halifax
Hampden
hangar
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hudson
Hurricane
Ju 88
killed in action
Lancaster
love and romance
Manchester
Master Bomber
Me 110
Me 262
mechanics engine
mess
military living conditions
military service conditions
mine laying
Mosquito
navigator
Navy, Army and Air Force Institute
Nissen hut
Oboe
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
radar
RAF Barkstone Heath
RAF Bassingbourn
RAF Benson
RAF Bourn
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Colerne
RAF Cosford
RAF Cranwell
RAF Dunkeswell
RAF East Kirkby
RAF Elvington
RAF Fairford
RAF Halton
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Melton Mowbray
RAF Mepal
RAF Oakington
RAF Padgate
RAF Pershore
RAF Scampton
RAF Silverstone
RAF St Athan
RAF Stormy Down
RAF Swinderby
RAF Talbenny
RAF Tangmere
RAF Upper Heyford
RAF Upwood
RAF Uxbridge
RAF Valley
RAF Warboys
RAF Wigsley
RAF Wing
recruitment
Resistance
Spitfire
sport
Stirling
target indicator
training
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Victoria Cross
Wellington
Whitley
Window
wireless operator
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24320/PChadwickR19040082.2.jpg
85011602954a04f8c8e14edde8b2d1a9
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Clubhouse of Lancaster Aero Club
Description
An account of the resource
Middle left to entre three interconnected buildings with picket fence in front. To the right are other buildings. In the foreground a roadway. Captioned 'The clubhouse of the Lancaster Aero Club Woodford Cheshire, close to aerodrome and hangars of A V Roe & Co ltd, by courtesy of A V Roe & Co Ltd'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PChadwickR19040082
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1365/22936/PThomasAF20010051.1.jpg
ba883ca5740ec7b3b04dc26faba992a7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Thomas, Arthur Froude. Album 1
Description
An account of the resource
An album containing 50 pages of photographs of Arthur Froude's family and his pre war career and service as a flight engineer with 90 Squadron. The album also contains family photographs dating from 1900.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Thomas, AF
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Caroline Holt
Description
An account of the resource
Photo 1 and 2 are the same. Caroline is sitting on the grass.
Photo 3 and 4 are the same. Caroline is sitting on the grass in a garden.
Photo 5 is Caroline in WAAF uniform stranding in a garden.
Captioned 'Caroline Wrangham Holt. Daughter of George and Edith Holt. Born 6/1/22 Stockport Cheshire.'
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PThomasAF20010051
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Greater Manchester
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
ground personnel
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1337/20746/PLambAM17010010.1.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1337/20746/PLambAM17010016.1.jpg
825ddeeb4bd54f588c752345ce30ed9e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lamb, Alexander. Album
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. Photographs of Alexander Lamb's service.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Lamb, A
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Avro, Woodford
Five airmen under the nose of a Lancaster
Description
An account of the resource
Five airmen standing under the nose of a Lancaster aircraft, annotated 'Avro Visit'. A second identical photograph is annotated 'Day trip to Avroe Woodford May 46'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs from an album
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PLambAM17010010,
PLambAM17010016
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1946-05
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946-05
aircrew
Lancaster
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24223/PChadwickR19040036.1.jpg
5c11019164ff0f39f4765a971f023a51
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1532/24223/PChadwickR19040037.1.jpg
9d584e18adfdcf8fe648119e0507bcab
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chadwick, Roy. 1940s
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. Photographs of people, places and aircraft
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Avro Tudor airborne
Description
An account of the resource
A four engine airliner registration G-AGSU flies over an airfield left to right. Below two Lincoln aircraft parked and in the distance hangars and buildings. On the reverse 'at Avros Woodford 1947, Avro XXI (Tudor II)'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1947
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PChadwickR19040036, PChadwickR19040037
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cheshire
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1947
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is property of Delphine S Stevens who has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0) permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Lincoln
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1366/22952/PThomasAF20020012.2.jpg
0d26d825bb99ed71c03faf7655adff17
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1366/22952/PThomasAF20020013.2.jpg
507da835c998e866e167f409b031fe2a
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1366/22952/PThomasAF20020014.2.jpg
dc5bdc3d6c1770b54713ce8cc4e5642c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1366/22952/PThomasAF20020015.2.jpg
71e5e1c8c6edba783cb2b4bc8635117c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1366/22952/PThomasAF20020016.2.jpg
35e9c48c4c44a7b4c208b97046ea8684
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1366/22952/PThomasAF20020011.1.jpg
6d242a89e62c665bfa20d1fe15d80896
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Thomas, Arthur Froude. Album 2
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Thomas, AF
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-02-11
Description
An account of the resource
33 items. An album containing photographs and postcards from Thomas Arthur's wedding, honeymoon and holidays.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Arthur Thomas' Wedding
Description
An account of the resource
Photos 1 and 4 are the same, Arthur and his bride outside the church.
Photo 2 is the bride and he father walking into the church.
Photo 3 and 5 are the same, Arthur, his bride, the best man and Carol's bridesmaid.
Photo 6 is bride and groom, best man and bridesmaid, Arthur's parents and Carol's parents.
Photo 7 is Arthur, bride, best man and bridesmaid standing in Larmuth's Garden after the reception.
Photo 8 is Arthur, bride, Ted (best man) Sylvia (bridesmaid), Arthur's father, Aunt Ida and Carol's father standing in Larmuth's garden.
Photo 9 and 10 are two slightly different groups of attendees at the wedding including Arthur and his wife.
Photo 11 is Arthur and his bride standing in the garden.
Photo 12 is a half length portrait of Arthur and his new wife, facing each other.
Photo 13 is the same as photo 10.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1948-09-18
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
13 b/w photographs on six album pages
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PThomasAF20020011,
PThomasAF20020012,
PThomasAF20020013,
PThomasAF20020014,
PThomasAF20020015,
PThomasAF20020016
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Stockport
England--Lancashire
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1948-09-18
love and romance