500578 Gordon Craig Royal Air Force 44 Sqd. from:Durham Road, Stockton on Tees, Co.Durham. My father, Gordon Craig was moved to Stalag
VIIIB from Stalag Luft III after being caught up in various escape
attempts. He had been shot down in Lancaster C-Charlie from 44
Squadron, RAF on the night of 6th October, 1942, during a raid on
Osnabrück. He remained at VIIB until being force-marched on what
became known as the Death March.
I have a collection of letters between him and my mother, Mary Craig,
written during his time as a POW, together with his prison camp and
Death March diary and various artifacts, such as a polished tin
'mirror' he made to keep up his appearance (and thus his spirits) while
he was there. He also wrote notes for a couple of talks he gave;
apparently people with various types of civilian or technical expertise
were encouraged to give talks to groups of inmates. He was involved
with some of the shows they put on as well.
My dad was a Stockton boy, he grew up in Durham Road
and first flew as a auxiliary from Middleton St George. My Mum was a
Norton girl from Birkley Road; she worked in the torpedo labs at the
ICI during the war and often did Fire-watch Duty at night.
My Dad and Mum died within a year of each other in the
mid 1980s and are much missed. Despite the privations and sometimes
horrors of my dad's wartime experiences, he always said in later years
that he felt 'more alive' during the war and that life often seemed
duller afterwards. On the whole, he spoke quite freely of events at
Stalag VIIB, although he did refer to it as a much more 'serious' place
that was grimmer and more prison-like than Stalag Luft III had been.
His sense of humour certainly helped, he described a few situations
that I would have been hard-pressed to find amusing had they happened
to me!
My compliments to you on the site, it's beautifully put together and a
real mine of information.
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