The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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241671 Pte. Alfred Platt British Army 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers from:Newton-Le-Willows My late father, Alf Platt, was part of the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers who were part of the rear guard action to hold back the Germans during the evacuation of Dunkirk. My father very rarely spoke of his ordeal but I do know that he was captured and marched to the North of Poland where he spent 5 years in the P.O.W camp at Danzig, now called Gadansk. For several Months my late mother was told that he was "missing in action, believed killed", this was later corrected when she learned that he was a P.O.W. it was only when a Dutch civilian gave him a piece of paper and asked him to write his name on it, that my Mother was then informed by the Red Cross that her husband had been seen alive, she was later advised that he was a P.O.W in Stalag XX3A. My Mother and her 5 year old daughter did not see him again until he was liberated in 1945. My Father spoke very little about the war or his ordeal as a P.O.W and despite reading several accounts of Dunkirk, cannot find many mentions of the soldiers who stayed behind and were captured, we only read about the hero's of the R.A.F, the Royal Navy and the little ships, and nothing much about those left behind. If anyone can shed any light on the Lancashire Fusiliers role at Dunkirk or the prison camp at Danzig and the march to get there, I would very much appreciate it. Whilst we all (quite rightly) honour those brave young men of the R.A.F and the little boat crews etc in the evacuation, let's not forget those heroes who gave their lives, or 5 years of their lives to facilitate that evacuation. Ron A Platt Add to this record.  Related Content: 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers Operation Dynamo - The Evacuation from Dunkirk and nearby Beaches Battle of France and The Low Countries 1940 Stalag 23A 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.