The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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209119 Pte. Derek Stephen Palmer British Army 7th Battalion Royal Warwicksshire Regiment from:Gt.Barr, Birmingham My father, Derek Palmer from Birmingham, was a Private in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment joining up in April 1939. He was part of the BEF and his unit part of 7th Battalion, who I believe entered Belgium on the 19th /20th May and fought a rearguard action on the Ypres/Comines canal alongside the 48th Division and the Wilts and a Scottish regiment. His c/o was Captain Hunt who was killed at some point during the action. He was taken prisoner on about the 28th May, and marched through the Low Countries, (a Dutch family managed to take his name, rank & number to let people know he was still alive. They wrote to him throughout his captivity and remained friends for many years) finishing up in Poland Stalag XXB where he remained despite, at least, one unsuccessful escape attempt. He took part in the 'Death March', during which time he was so ill he couldn't walk due to a poisoned leg and owes his survival to his friend Alf Lane who carried him on his back, so that he wouldn't be shot by the guards. They were liberated first by the Russians, whose Doctor operated on my father's leg with a razor blade. The Americans arrived and after some confusion as to who was claiming which allies, they flew my father home to hospital in the UK. He spoke very little of his time in prison camp, but I was named after a Polish family's daughter who hid him during an escape attempt. He remained a close friend of Alf Lane for the rest of his life. My father was one of the most delightful, kind and witty man you could wish to meet. I never liked to ask him any questions because I didn't wish to bring back painful memories, but I would be grateful if anybody has any information about the Royal Warwicks actions at that period or remember him or Alf Lane. Erika Williams Add to this record.  Related Content: 7th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment Stalag 20b 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.