Cpl. Robert Peden
British Army Lothian and Border Horse
My father, Cpl Robert Peden, Lothian and Border Horse, as far as I can gather, was captured at St Valery and spent all or most of the war in Stalag VIIIB/344. I have a number of family photos with the camp stamp on and recall him telling me that at one point Douglas Bader was there for a while before being transferred elsewhere. In keeping with many POW's, my father was reluctant to talk about his time as a prisoner. On the few occasions that he did drop his guard, he told me of soup containing a horse’s eye, making spirit from potatoes and being allowed to leave the camp to go to a nearby village to collect a piano. This was to allow the POW's to entertain themselves and he brought it back apparently with the aid of a wheelbarrow.
I think that he did mention becoming a 'trustee'. He did once talk about being on a forced march where men died but I do not know any of the detail. I have a photo with 'Friewaldan May 1943' written on the back As far as I can gather, Freiwaldan is in Austria so I suspect that my father may have been in another camp at some point.
If anyone knows any of the others in either of the photographs or can help fill in the gaps in my knowledge I would be most grateful. My father passed away in 1996 and I have no other means of increasing my knowledge of this time in his life.
