Assistance!

[Scaramooch]

Friends,
Let me see if I had succeeded.
Here are some of my Dad's records:

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Peter

[ADM199]

Hello,
if your Father was on the Sebastiano Venier you will find an excellent account of the incident and the plight of the P.O.W. if you obtain a copy of"In The Bag". The book was written and illustrated by Peter Ogilvie and Newman Robinson,Published in South Africa by MACMILLAN in 1975.
The South African Museum of Military History may be able to confirm that he was on the Sebastiano Venier(JASON).They do have a list of South African casualties.

My records show you Father in PG 52 in August 1943, but with the rank of Gnr.he would probably been attached to a work camp.The same applies to 7A. where his P.O.W. No.was 133958.
If you have trouble obtaining a copy of the book let me know and I will write a brief resume of places and events.

[penderel]

My question is how did the South African POWs get back to South Africa, fly to England then a ship to SA, how long would that take?

[ADM199]

Released P.O.W. were usually,but not always, sent to reception camps in France and debriefed. They were then shipped to England,again to reception camps where obviously they received health checks and were re-kitted. When all this was complete and ships available they were embarked for South Africa.

All this could have taken many months.

[Scaramooch]

ADM199, thank you for the quick response. I was wondering if th 133958 number was his P.O.W. number. I must say his military record here is very sctechy if I must say so. They first had him in camp 66 on the 15/04/1942 then camp 52 on the 24/04/1942. Now you confirm he was in PG52 in August 1943. This is great news. Yes, according to his military record he was reverted to the rank of gnr in 1940. It seems asif you can give me a lot more of info. There is a bit of a delicate situation that I would not like to discuss on a open forum. Would you mind if I send you a private mail with the incident.
Yes I can confirm the time it took the P.O.W. to get back to SA. It looks like from the time he was released Italy, bit confusing here, till he reached Durban it was Jan 1946. His military record shows he was released in April 1945.

[penderel]

Scaramooch. My Grandad, was in Camp 52 (AKA PG52, campo 52) I have photos of POWs mostly from Durban in Camp 52. He was then obviously transferred to Stalag 344 in Poland. The thing is my Mom was born in December 45 so he had to be home well you do the maths.

Do you know of any places in South Africa where you can get copies of military records?

Here is link for you Prisoner of War

[Scaramooch]

Hi penderel,
Very interesting, I would love to go through some of the pictures. Is there a possibility of a match with the picture I posted?
You can contact Gorden Bickley. He is now retired from the military but has access to all types of records. He got me most of my info his mail is bickleg@global.co.za. He does charge a small amount as he has some costs to get to the records and back. please contact him.

Peter

[penderel]

Hi Peter, Thanks for the e mail for Gorden.

I will go through the magazine and look. I will slowly scan the magazine and post it up, it is interesting. Here is one of Grandfathers first cards from Campo 52 (can put some insight into conditions for you).

[Slipdigit]

Thanks for posting the letters, Pen.

[penderel]

Originally Posted by Slipdigit

Thanks for posting the letters, Pen.

No problem. Does make for interesting reading. Sad thing is mid 1943 and he is saying won't be long and he will be home.

Did you see the one letter where he says he thinks Percy was shot trying to escape.