Joseph Walker
British Army
from:Broughton-in-Furness
Joseph Walker is my Dad, he enlisted in the British Army at Darley Dale on 6th of June 1940 aged 20. He was employed as a driver and sent to North Africa where it was his job to transport higher ranking officers around.
He was captured when Tobruk fell and was sent to Bari and later to PG70. Dad never really spoke about his time as a POW but from service records and a diary his mother kept I managed to piece together his journey throughout the war years. He was reported missing in 1942 but it turned out he was ok and his mother received a letter to reasure her. I know from his mother's records that while in camp PG70 he sent her a request for some books to read as the days were long. The books were heavily vetted before being handed over.
While in the camp he met an old school friend Stuart McVey, they were at school together in Ravenglass. I know that the camp produced a newspaper called the Seventy Times and it was put together by the POW's. I also found that PG70 was featured in a newspaper in 1943 and possibly called The Prisoner of War, it contains a group photo of the POW's.
Dad ended the war in Stalag IVB but on his service records it does mention him being in Stalag 4c Wistritz Bei Teplitz and his POW number was 258739. I know he worked in an oil refinery and also spent some time mending German planes.
He returned to the UK safely and lived until the age of 83. I did find an interesting book called Escape from Ascoli written by Ken de Souza. He was one of the few POW's to be held in PG70 who were in the Air Force and his book gives lots of information about life in the camp.
