Tpr. Frank "Smokey" Kenyon
British Army Reconnaissance Corps
from:Birkenhead
My father, Frank Kenyon was captured in Sicily in 1943. He was eventually taken through Italy to Stalag 18A. I was born in March 1942, so, apart from when I was first born, I did not see him until I was nearly 4 years old. Apparently I was not happy, as I had my Mother all to myself for those years and told him to 'leave Mummy alone, she's my Mummy!' I remember as a very small child seeing my mother crying, it was apparently when she got the telegram to say my father was missing, presumed killed. My sister was born after he came home, in November 1946, and I remember Dad telling us stories of camp life when we were children.
One of the tales was of getting potatoes and hiding them in their trousers, as another contributor mentioned. He also said that he was in a working party making bricks, and they used to doctor the mix so the bricks would collapse. When my mother sent photos of me as a baby, one of the guards looked at them and was amazed, saying that they were told the British children were starving, and I was 'so fat!' One time he said he had escaped and got within half a mile of the border (with Switzerland?), before being captured by guards with Alsatians - he hated the dogs for the rest of his life.
I have a notebook he wrote during his time there, containing stories, anecdotes, cartoons and poems, all written in tiny writing in pencil.
