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Pte. John Brayshaw Kay
British Army 15th (Civil Service Rifles) Btn. London Regiment
from:Warrington, Lancs
My grandfather, John Kay, was recruited into the Civil Service Rifles in 1916; he had been employed as a clerk in the Civil Service from 1915, aged 18.
He transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, and was captured in March 1918. From the date given on the Red Cross POW record card - 22nd of March, it seems likey that he was captured during a gas attack in the St Quentin area. He awoke on board a train having been stripped of his ID. Two days later he arrived at Crossen-an-der-Oder POW camp in Eastern Germany (now Poland). He remained a POW until the end of the conflict.
When he returned home, he brought with him a small painting done by a fellow prisoner, a Frenchman named Etienne St Paul, showing the watchtower at Crossen camp. The painting remains in our family to the present day.
