Rifleman Cecil A. Ponsford
Army Kings Royal Rifle Corps
The above is a photograph of the funeral of a POW, about March 1943. The exact location of the funeral is not known but it is assumed to be near Fort Rauch in Poland, German POW camp Stalag 21d. I believe the deceased man was RFN Cecil A. Ponsford, POW No.2474 at Stalag 21d who lived near to my father, Albert Palmer, in London before the war. On the back of the photo is an address, written in pencil, of a place in London where Mr. Ponsford's relatives lived at the time. The address side of the photo has a German Stalag 21d rubber stamp on it, ready to be sent by Red Cross back to London, but for some reason, the photo postcard was not sent. My father had possesion of Mr. Ponsford's photo's during the rest of his stay as a POW. It's possible that the Germans did not want Mr. Ponsford's possesions sent back to his relatives due to the nature of his death. This was the man, according to my mother, who was shot by German prison guards for whistling persistently whilst out with a working party. This would have broken the Geneva Convention & the Germans would not want his relatives to know.
This postcard belonged to Mr. Cecil A. Ponsford who died as a POW at Stalag 21d as explained in previous emails. My father held this card, & others, until the end of the war & it was not allowed to be sent back to Mr. Ponsford's family by the Germans due to the nature of his death. Mr. Ponsford POW number at Stalag 21d was 2474. It shows a group of 9 POW's dressed up and performing a stage play at Fort Rauch Stalag 21d.
On the back of the postcard can be seen Mr. Ponsford's address, the card was written in pencil & the message side of the card has been deliberately rubbed out & the German rubber stamp has been scratched out. This could have been done by the Germans before my father took posession of it. I can just see a date in pencil which says 24/3/1943
These photographs, also belonged to POW Cecil A. Ponsford, my father had these in his possesion after the death of Mr. Ponsford before March 1943. The top picture picture shows 3 POW's on stage giving an amateur dramatics performance for the rest of the POW's at Stalag 21d. The bottom shows a POW football match with Fort Rauch Stalag 21d in the background, date of photo possibly 1942.
