jamesday Posted 6 October , 2013 Share Posted 6 October , 2013 My Grandfather 2nd Lt Arthur Fletcher went missing flying his very first operational sortie with 213 Squadron north of Ypres on Sept 28th 1918 at the start of the big push in that area. He was shot down while over enemy territory and captured. He became a POW and was repatriated on 13 Dec 1918. So he was very lucky to survive and only do a few weeks in captivity. We have his letter from the King and a poor copy of a photo which may be him in a prison camp. There are10 of them and there is snow on the ground. See attached photo. Can anyone suggest which prison camp he may have gone to at such a late stage in the war and how did he get home? A family story has them 'walking across the ice of the Baltic Sea to get home'. Or do I have to wait for the ICRC to get back online? Thanks James Day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Evans Posted 6 October , 2013 Share Posted 6 October , 2013 James, This may be his service record in AIR/76, if you haven't already got it - Click here Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.Rhodes Posted 10 October , 2013 Share Posted 10 October , 2013 James One camp it could have been is Camstigall-bei-Pillau [modern day Baltiysk] in Russia. My uncle, Waide Reginald Worrall, was sent there and I have photo's taken in snow, see picture. The buildings are not the same but the chairs are similar to your photo. Kind regards, Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesday Posted 10 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 10 October , 2013 Peter You could be right. Coincidentally someone at 'theaerodrome.com' forum is looking for just such a photo! What date was your relative captured? James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesday Posted 12 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 12 October , 2013 Peter Amazing! I looked once again at my GF's artefacts and discovered some old German money notes. And overprinted on them is 'KAMSTIGALL" !! I attach a photo of one. Thank you for the tip. The chairs, huts and snow now look very similar! The US Militaria forum has an amazing story by 'Croix de Guerre"of a Lt Frank Tommy Thomson who ended up at Camstigall. There is loads of info and amazing photos from the camp. Yours James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.Rhodes Posted 12 October , 2013 Share Posted 12 October , 2013 Hello James I originally thought that all the photo's I have of Reg in captivity were taken at Karlsruhe because some have the place name at the bottom and one with a German sitting at his desk was also Karsruhe. However, after posting them on GWF, another relative of Reg got in touch keen to borrow the photo's [there are many of family etc]. One photo has a list of place names on the back which puzzled him. After searching the web for a while he came accross a photo of the same german this time standing with prisoners at Kamstigall. To cut a long story short, well shorter, it turns out that Reg must have been at Kamstigall even though there is no mention in his war record. The list of place names leads from Karlsruhe to the baltic and Coporal Franke wrote his name and address on the back of the photo of himself so we think he befriended Reg. The photo is Corp Franke. PM sent Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFF Posted 11 December , 2013 Share Posted 11 December , 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._213_Squadron_RAF Put a query at aerodrome http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/people/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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