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George Wilkinson · 16-04-2008, 06:17 PM

I have kindly been given permission to share some of the letters and the Diary of Sgt James Blake Stephenson Can/R.65625 POW No. 24396 with this forum. Sgt Stephenson sadly is no longer with us, but his son Jim has compiled what he could find about his father and has shared it with me.

Sgt Stephenson was shot down October 15 1941 while serving as a replacement Tail Gunner in a Wellington Bomber. He was waiting to return to Canada for training as a pilot, but was filling in on crews that had lost their rear gunners until that time.
Sgt Stephenson would not be released until April 16 1945. His tail of survival is one that should be known.

I will add to this thread from time to time with the hope that this is the right way to go about it.

There are large gaps in the diary but it is still serves as a wonderful snap shot of life as a POW.

One thing I found quite interesting was that when Sgt Stephenson first was captured he assumed that there was no way he would still be a prisoner by Sept 1st of the following year ( 1942) , so he used those pages of his diary as a place for addresses. Sadly he was quite wrong about the length of time he would be a guest of the Germans.

Please feel free to comment or add anything and I will pass it on to Sgt Stephenson's son .

16-04-2008, 06:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
George Wilkinson Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Burlington Ontario Posts: 61	Canadian Prisoner of War Diary I have kindly been given permission to share some of the letters and the Diary of Sgt James Blake Stephenson Can/R.65625 POW No. 24396 with this forum. Sgt Stephenson sadly is no longer with us, but his son Jim has compiled what he could find about his father and has shared it with me. Sgt Stephenson was shot down October 15 1941 while serving as a replacement Tail Gunner in a Wellington Bomber. He was waiting to return to Canada for training as a pilot, but was filling in on crews that had lost their rear gunners until that time. Sgt Stephenson would not be released until April 16 1945. His tail of survival is one that should be known. I will add to this thread from time to time with the hope that this is the right way to go about it. There are large gaps in the diary but it is still serves as a wonderful snap shot of life as a POW. One thing I found quite interesting was that when Sgt Stephenson first was captured he assumed that there was no way he would still be a prisoner by Sept 1st of the following year ( 1942) , so he used those pages of his diary as a place for addresses. Sadly he was quite wrong about the length of time he would be a guest of the Germans. Please feel free to comment or add anything and I will pass it on to Sgt Stephenson's son .