Keith Gregson
Snippets of war
A card relating to the Liverpool prisoner of war committee
In my article on the German Spring Offensive of 1918 (FT May), I referred to the large number of Allied soldiers who fell into captivity and remained there until the end of the confiict. Documents discovered among my great-aunt’s effects back up the contention that this was a worrying time for families back home. My great-uncle John was in a Liverpool Regiment and his wife joined a local organisation dedicated to finding prisoners of war and providing them with food and other articles where possible. A considerable amount of time, effort and money went into such organisations but success was limited. This is hardly surprising as many prisoners ended up in a Germany, which descended into chaos during the last months of the war. John received none of the food parcels or any of the letters sent to him and his own correspondence arrived with the family after his release. In fact there is some uncertainty as to whether the family even knew that he was still alive.
By his release in November 1918 his wife had gone home to her mother in Millom in Cumberland. Family legend has it that John arrived in London, knocked on his grandmother’s door; she opened it, looked at him and fainted ‘clean away’. He then changed his rail pass destination from Liverpool to Millom while the family put his wife on the train two stops before Millom so they could have a personal reunion before meeting up with family and friends fiag-waving at Millom Station.