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Pte. John Brayshaw Kay MBE.
British Army 202 Company Machine Gun Corps
from:Warrington
John Kay was born 6th of October 1897 in Warrington, Cheshire. He enlisted in the Civil Service Rifles in 1915 & was tranferred to the MGC. Whilst in action on 21st of March 1918, he was captured at Hargincourt in a gas attack & sent to Crossen-an-der-Oder POW camp in eastern Germany (now Krozno in Poland since 1945). He survived his time in the camp, working as a farm labourer and was repatriated home in early 1919.
Whilst in the camp, he was befriended by a French Corporal called Etienne Saint Paul who gave John a small painting he had done of the Watchtower at Crossen camp. We still have the painting in the family today. After repatriation, John went back to the Civil Service and was subsequently awarded the MBE in 1955 for his long service in public office. He married in 1921 & had four children. John died in 1973. I am proud to be one of John's 16 grand-children.
