211009 L/Cpl. Donald Charles South British Army Royal Corps of Signals from:Southend-on-Sea,Essex My dad, Donald South told me on his death bed that he was a sniper in the war. He was captured after Dunkirk somewhere odd - it didn't make sense where he was so I wonder if he had some mission or other. He was tall and blonde and in Stalag Lamsdorf he became one of the Camp Interpreters as he got so good at German. He was chosen for an escape bid as his German was good and he looked German. Zig-zagging his way under a hail of bullets during the escape bid he got creased on the cheek by a bullet. Re-captured and taken to the camp medico he complained bitterly how much his cheek hurt. The medico was, meanwhile, bending down and peering at his stomach. 'Never mind your cheek, man' he said 'I can see right through you.' He had been shot clean through the stomach and it was a miracle it hadn't hit his spine. Unfortunately, the SS thought he was a spy (was he?) and they took him off for torture which made him pretty unstable after the war. As a little girl I have many memories of his night terrors shouting German and wrestling imaginery German soldiers. I shall be getting his War Record soon and it might be interesting. He was marched off on a Death March at the end of the war when Allied Troops advanced on the Camp but this time managed to get away and was picked up by the Americans. He was 6 foot 3 inches tall and weighed 9 stone. He had found a sack of brown sugar from somewhere and refused to give it to anyone - he ended up back in Britain with it and promptly nearly died from Yellow Jaundice. They said he could be a Chelsea Pensioner but (typical of him) he wasn't impressed by the accommodation (this was in the 1980's)and turned them down.
The Camp got him in the end, though. He died of stomach cancer in 1986 and it started at the site of that bullet wound. I'm very proud of him.
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