We were marched through France and Germany and I changed camps several times. The first one was at Deauville on the French coast and then a camp at Chartres. We were only at these camps for a couple of nights. After that we were marched to Challons-sur-Marne where we were given our first cigarettes - provided by the Red Cross. They were South African and called Spring Bok. I did not smoke but was able to use them to barter with for other things. We then went on to a camp near Strasbourg for a couple of weeks and then to Mahleburg to Stalag 4B. We stayed there for about two weeks. This camp had thousands of prisoners. We were told that its football pitch was the burial site for 10,000 Russians who had been killed in the War by the Nazi soldiers. Finally we were marched to a camp which was adjacent to a coal mine called Graffan-Heineken owned by the Krupps family who were very wealthy industrialists. This camp was small having only 120 prisoners. It was by a place called Bitterfelt and once whilst a prisoner at the camp I was taken there by the prison guards, by train, to help fetch the supplies. German soldiers had to stand on the train lines to push people up on to the train. It was not pleasant trip. We were not allowed to communicate with anyone else on the train and were very closely guarded.

Conditions were very poor at the camps. We had to work very hard digging in the fields and working in the coal mine. Rations were very poor. Each day we only had a small loaf to share between five men in our hut. To be fair it had been decided that the only people able to cut the bread were those who had a knife and I was the only one in our hut who had one which I had managed to exchange for some Red Cross cigarettes with a German soldier, therefore I was the one who cut our bread each day. I have kept this knife ever since. Because we were so hungry it was important that everyone felt that the bread had been cut fairly so we would first mark the loaf into five and all have to agree that they were equal before I could cut it. Actually we all knew that one piece was always bigger because what we did next was draw for the highest card to see who had first choice of slice. We all hoped that we would not be the last as that person had the end piece which was always smallest. We also had a churn of thin soup each day made from vegetables and one of us had to ladle out a mugful each into our soup bowls. The first one to get to the churn after we had finished scraped out the leftover soup with our fingers. Only the strongest one would win as we had to fight to get there first. This was usually me! When we worked in the coal mines we were also given a mug of awful coffee.  Our drinking water was taken from the same stream as we had to use for toilet purposes. Whilst I had to have these rations I swore I would never eat this sort of food again once I was free and I still will not eat vegetables or drink coffee after more than 50 years.

On April 13th 1945 the German soldiers realised that they were beginning to lose the War and started to march us again, this time to move us away from any approaching allies, firstly away from the British and American Forces and then the Russians. We went around in circles. We eventually ended up in a very large field in one or two massive tents housing hundreds of people. I think that this was at Baden-Baden but as there were no signposts or place names we were not sure. Whilst there it was my 21st birthday and my friend, Albert, went around and made a collection for my birthday. He managed to get enough oats to make a bucket of porridge which we both shared. As we were constantly hungry this was a real treat!

When we were at last released from this camp we were 10 miles from a place called Wurzen. There were about 10,000 men released and Albert and I were near the back of the queue. We decided that we had to get home as quickly as possible and whilst some men collected loot from the captured German soldiers we rushed onward. By the time we reached Wurzen we were at the front of the queue. Werzen had been taken by the American allies. To reach it we had to cross a great bridge which had been bombed and was now twisted and torn metal. Wurzen was near Halle where the Americans signed the treaty with Germany as the largest town near Wurzen.

We were then taken to a camp at Naumburg which had been a German Forces barracks. Here the Red Cross ensured we were well fed. We stayed there for two weeks waiting for transport home and as the days went by Albert and I saw some of the men from the back of the 10,000 strong queue arrive. We did not need to have rushed after all but our conscience was clear from not having taken any belongings from the German prisoners- of -war. At the end of the two weeks we were flown to Bruge in Brussels. There we were kitted out in new, clean uniforms and then flown to Aylesbury where we were greeted very warmly and with much celebration by the local people.

We were each given £12 and 10 shillings, which was a great deal of money then, and transported to our homes. First of all we were given two weeks leave but this kept being extended until I was at home for 16 weeks. My family had been told a year earlier that when I had landed in France I was “missing, presumed killed” and it was some time before they learned that I was alive but a prisoner-of-war. When my mother knew that we were released she stayed at home, each day excitedly expecting me to arrive home. At length though she could not stay away from work any longer so on the day of my arrival home and on her way home from work she was greeted by neighbours telling her that I was  home. She spent the next weeks making sure that I had only the food I wanted. When I told her that I had longed for fish and chips she gave them to me every day until I was sick of them!

At the end of the 16 weeks the Army found somewhere else to send us and I had to leave home again but at least our war had ended.

As told By Les McGowan to his granddaughter, Sian, when on holiday in Spain - February 1997- for a school project.