From: Barbara Porter
bporter1949@live.co.uk
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 6:30 PM
To: lamsdorf@hotmail.com
Subject: Stalag viiib 344
Dear Sirs
We have been on the internet site Lamsdorf viiib 344 and looked at the names
of the people held at that POW camp. Our father's name was not on the list but
we know that he was there. We have some information on him as follows:Private Richard (Dick) John Thompson, T/22573 RASE. His date of birth
was 16th November 1911.
He joined the army on 10th October 1940 and left on 15th April 1946.
He was captured by the Italians in North Africa, held by them and then handed
over to the Germans. We know he was a POW for three years altogether. We
have a couple of photographs stamped Stalag viiib.
We have some letters written by his mother and sent to her other son who was
in the RAF. In a letter dated 8th December 1943 it mentions that Dick was in a
working camp of 20 men working on a farm levelling the ground. They worked
eight and a half hours a day with a half day Saturday and Sunday off.
In a letter dated 27th December 1943 it gives his address as Stalag viiib,
Working No E.589, Germany.
He did also say to us, his children, that he worked on a railway.
He was a keen gymnast and we are sure that if there were any gymnastics at the
camp then he would have joined.
My grandmother wrote letters to her youngest son Tom (who was about 21
years old at the time) when he was stationed in Italy and in one of the letters she
gave Tom his brother Dick's address in Germany. My grandmother was born in
1889 and did not have much education but the letter, we think, is very good
considering. Anyway I thought you may like to see a copy of this letter. Just to
give a bit of background, there was an older son, Dave about 34 in 1943, who
had emigrated to New Zealand a couple of years before the war. My father who
was about 32. A daughter Doris who had a son John and was living with her
mother for most of the war and the youngest, Tom to whom the letters are
addressed.
Also I have a photograph of my father, Dick when he was at Lamsdorf. He is in
the middle row, fourth from the right. On the reverse of the photograph was the
stamp for Stalag VIIIB which we have photocopied. This may be of interest to
other people as they may know the other prisoners in the photograph.
[The photo and documents can be seen by clicking on the other links]
We hope this information will be useful to you.
Yours faithfully
Barbara Porter and Richard Thompson (His daughter and son)