Lt. Peter vanVlerk
South African Air Force 34 Squadron
from:Durban, South Africa
This item is the ID neck badge for a Prisoner of War of the Germans. Peter van Vlerk used to wear the POW ID around his neck - suspended from his uniform lanyard. The purpose of the perforations and the double set of numbers, is that in case of death it is broken in half and one side went to the Red Cross to advise family and the other half to German authorities. In this case you can clearly see his internment number - and that he was in Stalag 9C (1X9C) and POW number 53696. With so many of our chaps being taken prisoner there must be a large number around, however that being the case, I suspect once freed a large number of our chaps would have used these as Frisbees. There were different types, later in the war when the Germans were running short on metal, they even produced wooden ones.
At the time of his capture Peter van Vlerk was a Lieutenant with the South African Air Force - serving with the Squadron 34. They and one other Sq. were flying Liberators - an American Bomber that carried a crew of 8. They were flying ops into Hungary and were on their way to attack the Marshalling Yards at Zumbethly (spelling may need correction) When nearly over the target a German plane flying above them, illuminated flares above them. This was sufficient for ground anti-aircraft to hit them. Out of the 8 crew, all were killed – except Lt. van Vlerk - who was a gunner. He was badly wounded and was taken to hospital (another dodgy spelling - neither of us was sure ) at a place called Uburmarsfeld. When he had recovered sufficiently he was taken to Stalag 9C - which was at Zumbethly.
His medals are with his Grandchildren - which is where they should be. They didn't need his ID and WW2 Sam Browne cross belt - with date 1942 - and he wanted them to go to a collector, someone that could fully appreciate it. I wish more people were as sensible. It is now in my possession. I met him in Oct 2012 - he is now 93 years of age and living in sheltered housing in Durban South Africa. It was a pleasure to meet him and to listen to his WW2 experiences.
