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George Farquar "Curly" Castel
British Army Royal Army Service Corps
from:Bradford, Yorkshire
My grandfather, George Castel, was born in Inverness, Scotland on January 29, 1908. He was the son of George Farquar and Kate Castel. His father was originally from Peterhead, Scotland, with his mother hailing from Boston, in Lincolnshire. George had three siblings – sisters Jean and Lillian, and brother Norman. The family lived in Inverness until 1921, when they moved to Bradford, Yorkshire. Grandad was sent to Birmingham to the Dunlop tyre plant for training in vulcanizing and tyre fitting. After completing training, he moved back to Bradford to work for the City Corporation transport system. He was made redundant in 1931 and then got a job working for Model Milk Co. from 1931-35, delivering dairy products house-to-house, first using a horse and cart, then later a truck. In 1935, he became a driver for the Bradford Dyers Association where he stayed with BDA until 1937. He then moved to Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire, to run a boarding house.
When World War II began on 3rd of September 1939, George volunteered for the Air Raid Precaution unit in Cleethorpes, where he was assigned to be an ambulance driver. In May 1940 he volunteered for the Royal Army Service Corps. He left behind his wife and a 10-year-old daughter when his unit was sent to Egypt. The unit served there for two years before its men were just a small part of the 30,000 personnel captured after the Battle of Tobruk in June 1942.
After being captured and interned, grandad found he was the oldest man in his camp, was at Stalag 4-B, though he was only 34 years old. He and several hundred other men were transported from Carpi to the camp in late 1943. He eventually ended up at a work camp in Halle. He kept a journal of his time from being captured until his liberation. I have turned this into a blog Home by Autumn.
