L/Cpl. Stanley George Jones
NZ Army 3rd Echelon
from:Christchurch, New Zealand
Stan Jones was my Grandfather and used to tell me stories about the war and what he did when we went for walks together when I was a kid. He did his training at Burnham Military Camp and on the 27th of August 1940 sailed on the Orcades (3rd Echelon) he served in Greece, Syria, Cyrenaica and Egypt.
On the 22nd of July 1942 he was taken Prisoner at El Mreir Depression. After being in several camps, on the 8th of September 1943 he escaped from the POW camp in Italy at the time of the Italian capitulation. He lived and worked as an Italian until he was recaptured 12 months later and transported to Germany. He was held in Lager 11a Alton Grabow, near Madgeburg (NCO camp). When the Russian advance started in the south he was moved to Stalag Stalag 357 Fallingbostel, north of Hanover and Stalag XIIIb. He endured the Long march into Mechlenburg-Schwerin and was liberated at Salam-bi-Ratzburg. On the 23rd of December 1945 he returned to Christchurch, New Zealand on the Troopship Mooltan and was discharged on the 10th of May 1946.
