The feature page
of


Fusilier James Garner

1/8th Battalion, Lancs Fusiliers.

Fusilier James Garner (Jim).Army no. 4350469. POW no. 1206. Born Salford, Lancs in 1919. Enlisted T.A. in May 1939; called for active service Sept 1939; transferred to the 1/8th Lancs Fusiliers in Nov 1939.

Saw action in Belgium and France; taken prisoner on the outskirts of Bethune, France 27th May 1940. Met his cousin, Gunner John Goring (Royal Artillery) on the march.


After being in other camps, Jim and John ended up at Blechammer, Poland and were made to work on the oil refinery.



On 2nd Dec 1944, there was yet another allied air raid over the area, this time a stray bomb hit the camp and the shelter my father and John were in. Dad was one of many badly injured; John and several others (30 in total) were killed.

My father was transferred to the Revier, Stalag 344, Lamsdorf and the convalescent block, where he remained until the evacuation of the sick and injured in cattle trucks on 2nd March 1945, ending up at Stalag XV11A, Kaisersteinbruch. On April 1st, he began the evacuation march, until being liberated by US troops on 4th May at Neukirchen.

Dad finally arrived home 15th May 1945. He married my mum in 1946, had two children (my brother and me!); joined the bus service in 1949 until his retirement in 1984. In 1990 dad was reunited with one of the men who helped rescue him from the air-raid shelter when it was bombed.


They remained in touch until dad passed away in 1995.


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As for the other photo of John Berry, I only knew what Amy Swift found out:
John Berry, Fusilier Army Number 3655448. Regiment: Lancashire Fusiliers. POW Number 436. He was also from Salford.

However, on speaking with my brother last week, John Berry was at the same camp as my father and did survive the war, because the story goes that mum and dad were walking down the road one day and John was coming in the opposite direction. Dad said to mum, "Watch this guy's face". When John spotted my dad, he stopped still and went white and said, "I thought you were dead!" as he hadn't seen dad after the camp was hit either.
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Written and sent in by James Daughter
Lynne Wilkinson