ALBERT OATS IN SPAIN 1943 : 無料・フリー素材/写真
ALBERT OATS IN SPAIN 1943 / expom2uk
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
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| 説明 | Albert in spain after his release from a prison camp in Germany. Due to ill health. He was a deck hand on the SS Orama sunk by the Von Hipper in 8th June 1940 and spent 3years in MIlag Nord.He was 14 years when joined the ship, And 18 when he got home. To tilbury Essex.Modern warfare has it’s effects on all and sundry, but few boys have experienced the ordeals of Albert Oats, son of Mr & Mrs T S Oats of 33 Russell Road Tilbury. Little did he think, when one day in May 1940, he said “ good-bye”to his parents, that it would be three years before he saw them again, and little did his father & mother realise that their boy of 15 would come back a young man.But this is what occurred, Albert is home again after his ship was sank.And spending some of the best years of his life in German prison camps.It was not many months after he left school, that he set sail, envied no doubt by his school friends on an adventure, that almost proved tragic,but, when he went to his old school recently, at the invitation of the headmaster, to tell some of the scholars his story, it was as a young man slightly nervous, with the obvious effects of the internment, he has just celebrated his 18th birthday.Albert is a good looking young man , and when an “ Essex and Thurrock Gazette” reporter met him at his home this week, dressed in a blue suit, smoking a cigarette, all he wished to talk about was the finding of a job.He wants to work on a farm “I was put on a farm in germany.” He said “and now I have got used to the work, and now I want to carry on now I am home.”At the age of fourteen he commenced working in the docks at Tilbury, and made a trip to Australia, and it was whilst he was on his return voyage that war was declared. At home a week, he joined the ORAMA and put to sea at once more as a deck boy in the Merchant navy. Four weeks later he experienced his first taste of war.“I was scrubbing out a room,”he said “when I heard a shot whistle over the bow of the ship,” and going to a porthole I saw the cruiser VON HIPPER & four other German cruisers. Shells were flying all around, and we were told to get to the boats as the ship was on fire. One boat had just been lowered when it was struck by a torpedo and blown to pieces with those on board. Another boat was available, and I got in, and when about a 100 yards from the sinking ship, another torpedo struck her, and the ORAMA gradually settled down in sheets of flame and a cloud of smoke. Shortly after his ship had disappeared Albert was picked up by one of the German destroyers and made prisoner. He was landed at Trondheim, and put to work, “they told me I was to young to work,”said Albert, “and that I should be with my mother and not going to sea, “They made me sit in a field where other prisoners were working, and then made me comfortable and I slept on the grass.After many journeys in different camps, he was sent to Lake Constance, where he was billeted in a big school with Frenchman, Poles and prisoners of other nationalities. Here he was told he was to be sent home but the promise did not mature, although he said he had not had a too bad a time. In those days the Germans were fairly well off for food.”I did some work and with the money I earned I was allowed to buy sweets and cigarettes,”he continued.”But this did not last, and, after about four months, I was transferred to Milag Nord, a camp where I remained for over nine months. Here conditions were entirely different, and I knew what it was to be hungry.I used to dream of home and Tilbury, and the happy times we all used to spend when we went hop-picking.After nearly six months the first Red Cross parcel came through, .I thanked God for those parcels because if it had not been for them I would not be alive today.” From there he was sent to another camp, where they were housed in a big bare building, but they made it as comfortable as possible, and, with a regular supply of parcels from the Red Cross, they did not do to badly. On October 3rd 1943 he was told he was wanted by the camp commander. “ He told me I was going home.”said Albert “but I did not believe him,”I had heard that story before. Two days later, however, I began my long journey back to England- and home to Tilbury, I had thought so much about. Albert spent two days in Berlin on the way back, and in Paris on his way to Madrid. Here he stayed at the hotel Metropole, and well looked after by the British Consul. Albert left for England via Lisbon, with two other British prisoners. Albert had many stories to tell of his life and conditions in various camps.For some months before coming home I worked on a farm, where all the work was done by hand.This was where he learnt farm work, The farmer had many talks to Albert, and told him that his son was fighting on the Russian front. He said people like me don’t want war. Some of the guards got quite friendly.At first there was nearly as many guards as prisoners, but as the war went on ,the guards became fewer, the same thing applied to the food. At first some of the guards who could speak English were quite boastful, One day one remarked that he would soon be in London, I said I don’t think so, but later this attitude changed , one told Albert that he was going to the Russian front,”that’s the finish for you said Albert,”Yes but we have to fight for our country. Towards the latter but of his internment, the guards were changed to much older men and some appeared to be suffering from shell shock.“Still I am glad to be home.” Mr & Mrs Oats have lost one son Arthur who was in the merchant navy, his ship was torpedoed in 1942.Albert died February 1998. Whilst living with his daughter and her family in Darlington Durham.The clothes Albert is wearing was given to him when he arrived in Spain, in place of his prison garb. |
| 撮影日 | 2010-08-04 14:46:30 |
| 撮影者 | expom2uk |
| 撮影地 |