242755 Pte. Norman Burnett British Army 5th Btn. Gordon Highlanders Norman Burnett was born in 1920 in Old Rayne, Aberdeenshire and signed up with the Gordon Highlanders as a teenager. Part of the 51st Highland Division and a member of the 5th Gordon Highlanders, he was captured at St Valery and endured the long journey ending at Stalag XXB near Marienburg. Dad was a proud soldier till the day he died at the ripe old age of 94 in Aberdeenshire. He didn't talk often about his experiences, only to tell us that he initially worked on roads and was then placed at a farm working for a family he became very fond of. At the end of the war he went by horse and cart with the family to flee from the Russians then cycled until he joined up with some American soldiers. He eventually made it back to the UK it was almost a year after the end of the war before he finally was allowed to return to Aberdeenshire.
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