The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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208597 Pte. James Lawson Guy British Army Gordon Highlanders My father, Private James Lawson Guy of the Gordon Highlanders, was captured at St. Valerie in France in (my mother thinks) May, 1940. In total he escaped on five occasions – mostly for short periods. He was, however, ‘on the run’ between his first escape in 1940 and his recapture in 1943. It is thought he escaped somewhere on the route between St Valerie and Thorn in Poland (where he was eventually held in Stalag XXA (6)).). He stayed with Polish families and worked with them during this period. I have in my possession 21 letters and postcards he sent to his family between 1943 and 1944. All are written in pencil but most are remarkably clear. During the ‘transcription’ of these letters in January 2009, I spoke with ‘wee brother George’ (who is referred to in the letters and who is now about 80 years old) and he told me that my dad was with the Polish Underground between 1940 and 43. (My mother states that he spoke Polish fluently.) There are clear indications in two of his letters that he escaped twice during the period when these letters were written (1943/44). On his second recapture he was moved to Stalag XXA (156). He was awarded the British Empire Medal on his return home and I have a copy of a letter from King George VI making this award. When he and my mother were married on 21 June 1946, the Glasgow Eastern Standard Newspaper ran an article headed ‘Captured for Life’. The eleven letters and ten postcards, dating from 29 August, 1943 until 24 May, 1944 were kept for years by his sister Agnes and eventually handed over to my brother Ron. He gave them to be and I have had copies bound and treated in a manner which will preserve them forever. I also still have the originals. In spite of his stated intentions to the contrary in one of his letters, my father did become a coal miner on his return from the war, which contributed to his early death aged just 42. Jim Guy Add to this record.  Related Content: Gordon Highlanders Stalag 20A (312) Prisoner of War Camp 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.