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209064L/Cpl Alistair Crawford Cameron MacRitchie
British Army 153rd Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps
from:"Leyhillock", Fassifern Road, Fort William, Scotland
My father Alister MacRitchie was captured on the cliff top at St.Valery-en-Caux with the 51st Highland Division on the 12th of June 1940. He was marched, trucked, marched, trained, barged, and trained again (32 hours, 50 men to a truck, with no water) to Stalag XXA in Thorn in Poland where he worked on various work details in satellite camps. As he was "protected personnel", being a medical orderly, he was repatriated through Sweden in October 1943 as part of the first successful prisoner exchange with the Germans.My Dad (far right) with his two pals, Allan Cameron and Archie Day, "The Three Musketeers" or "The Three Must Get Beers", who were in his unit and were captured with him.
This is a German photo of my Dad and others at one of the satellite camps. My Dad swears that the faces in the photographs had been touched up to make everyone look fatter and healthier than they really were.
Alan Moore, who was a fellow POW of my father's at one of the camps, was recently featured on The Antiques Roadshow, Remembrance Day Special recounting the story of the radio that was smuggled in and operated in the camp (he still has the radio). My Dad's story, transcribed from his own handwritten notes and POW diaries, is recounted in "Chrismas in the Lager - Worse than a Sunday" available from www.blurb.com.
The following are fellow POWs with their POW numbers whom he listed in his diary:
- Cameron, A. 18476
- McPherson 18536
- MacRitchie, A 18702
- Chapman 17238
- Bridges, A. 50131
- Hawley 18502
- Drake, D. 50130
- Elliott, A. 13785
- Case, G. 50136
- Bynes 18313
- Lait, W. 15225
- Tucker
- Young, G. 16995
- McKenzie 11244
IN HOSPITAL
- Moran, W. 18262
- McKenzie 16904
- Smith, J. 18171
- Underwood
- Henry, A. 18408
- Small
- Kennedy 18185
- McFarlane
- Castle, N. 18254
- Woods 17244
- Steven, C. 18545
- Borne 18272
- Ross, T. 15149
- Firth 17074
- Smith, A.V. 15230
- Masters
- McQueen 18387
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