The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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206057 Capt. James Shankley British Army 5/7th Btn. Gordon Highlanders from:Montrose, Angus My father was in the 5th/7th Gordons, 51st Highland Division, and taken prisoner at St Valery but like most POW's, he never talked openly about his experience. I only remember him talking 2/3 times - all after a few "pink" gins..... The story that springs to mind is when they were captured and moved on by the Germans. They were held in a field whilst the German officers conferred. Whilst this was going on the British officers were busy burying knives, lugers etc.!! The Germans then walked along behind the officers and gently patted their kilts - waiting for the rustle of silk revealing the presence of a silk map !!! After they were moved away the Germans then went over the field with a mine detector to find all the "hidden" items. This may or may not be true, but it was one of the few stories I truly remember. Lt Col James Shankley died in 1991 after a spell in hospital where the horrors of war came back to him. His family has no information regarding where he was, other than an internet-gained note that he was at the camp at Eichstatt (Oflag 7b). If anyone has any information ??? Peter Shankley Add to this record.  Additional Information: It appears that I might have wrong POW camp. I now suspect my father might have been in Stalag XXA. This is because he said in passing that he had been in the same camp as the actor Sam Kydd. But I'm still clutching at straws' here. Peter Shankley Reply Related Content: Oflag 7B Prisoner of War Camp 5th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.