205359 Richard John Bunt Royal Naval Reserve HMS Rawalpindi from: (d. ) My dad’s brother, Richard John Bunt, served on the ‘Rawalpindi.’
Both brothers, from their S-459 Certificate of Service, were in the RNR. My dad joined 24 November 1923 and my uncle joined on 26 October 1925.
From what I recall, both brothers said they would stand side by side and were always on the same team. Due to being in the RNR they were both called up on the 26 August 1939 and as usual they stood together. This time however, their orders were my dad the ‘Hector’ and Uncle Richard the ‘Rawalpindi.’ My dad went south to Australia and my uncle headed up to Scapa Flow. As one of the few survivors of the attack he was captured by the Germans and sent to a PoW camp.
I remember my Uncle Richard talking about a camp next to the camp where he was and how the lorries would go out with bodies on the back, some of the limbs still moving. We as a family thought he was in Germany but with this new publishing release of the PoW details we found his name listed under Stalag XXB in Poland.
As I read the pages of ‘A Defiant Slaughter’ (By Ian Johnson, posted on www.worldnavalships.com) it was so well written, I could actually picture the attack on the Rawalpindi in my mind, as if I was watching a film.
Richard Bunt was a prisoner of war from 24 November 1939 until 26 April 1945.
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