219231 Thomas Henry "Val" Valentine Royal Air Force from:Oxenhilme, Kendal Thomas Henry Valentine was called up in early 1941, having been waiting on deferred service since late 1940, and joined the RAF as Wireless Operator ACl, No. 1517358.
After initial training he was sent to Egypt and was involved in the push through to Libya. Before long he returned to Egypt whence he was sent to Palestine for further training ready for the assault on the Greek islands as part of an Advanced Landing Ground Party. At the end of September 1943 he was flown to the island of Kos in a Dakota.
Sadly the invasion of Rhodes did not go according to plan and the Allies were unable to establish air supremacy over the area, with the result that the Germans counter attacked on 5th October, 1943. Kos is a very small island and (as my father put it) with "nowhere to run" the allied forces were largely captured within the week. They were held for a short time in the castle on Kos whilst awaiting transport to the mainland of Greece, where they were marched to Athens. Here my father temporarily lost contact with many of his comrades due to sickness and being confined to a series of hospitals.
Next followed a 14 day train journey to the Dulag Luft interrogation centre for RAF personnel, and finally the arrival at Stalag IVB in December 1943. His prisoner number was 263514.
|