244866 Sgt. Arthur Thomas "Max" McGill British Army Queens Own Cameron Highlanders from:Wishaw, Scotland Arthur McGill was my father-in-law. He was an amazing man. He rarely talked of the war and when he did he never spoke badly of the Germans. He would say "it was war".
He served with 52nd Middle East Commandos and was captured in Crete on 1st of June 1941. When he thought an attack was imminent and that he might be killed he said he was going clean shaven, so he found some water and had a good shave. He did tell us of the time that they were hand cuffed at night in reprisal for an incident when German captives where hand cuffed together on a beach and left to be picked up later.
Unfortunately, the tide came in and they all drowned. Arthur was the one who figured out how to get out of the hand cuffs. So after the guards left they would get out of the hand cuffs and first thing in the morning they would put them back on again. He was hand cuffed with a Canadian named Roy Jacques.
When he spoke of Stalag 383 he spoke of the camaraderie of everyone there.
|