Dr
Richard (Dick) John Lillico Feltham was a Captain in the New
Zealand Army Medical Corps and subsequently a Major. He
died in 1977.
Richard
was a PoW at Torun and other places in Italy and in Germany
(Oflag 9A).
His
daughter, Jenny, visited the camps and has this to say about
them and in relation to my father's experiences:
"Torun
is a medieval town which is completely surrounded by Forts
- about 15 major ones such as dad's two he was in, and numerous
smaller ones. He talks about them and describes them quite
well. I was fascinated to see the pics taken
at XXa on your site and I can tell you that your father was
probably latterly in Einheitdrei (which Dad talks about) -
although the mention is of starting from Marienburg.
But the photos of the guards weren't taken inside the forts.
He was probably there - in one of the several - to begin with."
"I
have been lucky enough to get to Torun twice - first time
on my own. I had the good fortune to run into a major
in the army unit there. Fort 13 is behind military lines
- otherwise I would never have seen it. They are putting
a museum there now - or transforming the old fort into one
and are keen to get any details and photos, memorabilia, etc
that they can. They are simply wonderful people and it has
been a joy to do this research. Somewhere I have an aerial
photo that Andrzej sent me of one of the forts - will
try to find it all for you."
Jenny
says that her father "only ever told us the jokes, the
pranks and funny things and I am only now beginning to understand
what courage so many of those men displayed in their attitude
to that life." How true a statement this is.
Jenny
has kindly sent me her father's journal
which I am privileged to publish. As background for
the reader, Richard wrote this journal to his parents, whilst
incapacitated with jaundice contracted whilst working in a
hospital at the end of the war, after he returned to England.
He had a bad relapse at the point where he was about to write
about Thorn (Torun). There are also line drawings embedded
into his journal, some of which I have included below.
Richard's
wife, Bobby and his son, Christopher (born after he left for
the war and whom he did not see for 6 years!) are mentioned
in the journal.
Richard's
journal has been published in a book by Pat Sewell called
"Healers in World War II - Oral Histories of Medical
Corps Personnel".
Links
to the book are as follows:
Amazon
(UK) - select the link on the Contact
page
McFarland
& Company Inc
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| Drawn
view of fort |
Prison
cells |
Inside
of cell |
Exit
from the fort |
You can email
Jenny directly
if you have memories of her father or his colleagues.
Please also have the courtesy to contact her if you wish to
use any information from her father's journal or images from
this site, as they are all her copyright. |