Hyper-linked at right below, these letters and cards were all written by Pte Tom Tunney from Camp PG 66 and PG 53 in Italy back to his mother and father back in Thornley, Co Durham.
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The POWs were aware that their correspondence was subject to strict censorship, so there was a limit to what they could say. On the cards especially, there’s little more than a repeated reassurance every week that things were still fine. The letters are much more detailed and full of fascinating clues about the POWs’ daily routine. What comes across especially is their hunger for news from home.
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One letter indicates that my father’s first letter from home was about three months in coming. (None of this correspondence has survived). My father paints a fairly rosy-hued view of life in the camps for home consumption: the real conditions were much more onerous. My grandparents were both very devout Catholics and this helps account for the emphasis on church services in the letters.
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I’ve add specific comments to the link to each letter opposite as appropriate. Of the names mentioned in the correspondence; ‘Norman and Sid’ were Norman Cook of Wheatley Hill and Syd Shutt of Thornley, both ex-16th DLI and also captured at Sedjenane.
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Nora was my father’s elder sister. Katie, was his younger sister. Leo, his younger brother, served in the RAF. Hubert, his older brother, was in the Royal Navy. Margaret, another elder sister, was an Army nurse in Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service
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Les Rowley, from Wheatley Hill, Co Durham served in Royal Engineers and was captured in Tunisia. He later married Katie. ‘Lloyd’ was Lloyd Saunders of Thornley. ‘Godric’ was Godric Franey, a cousin from Ferry Hill, Co Durham, who was captured with another DLI unit in the desert. His Army Number was 4457054 and via Stalag 4B, POW Number 224024, he was at a work camp of Stalag 4C in early 1945.
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‘Callie’ was John Callaghan of Wheatley Hill, who served in the RAF. Peter Wilson of Thornley was an old school mate, captured in 1941, Army unit as yet unknown. Jack Kirk of Thornley was in the RASC. Eddie Lennox of Thornley was captured at the Fall of Singapore. News that he was still alive didn’t reach his family until mid-1943, and this is mentioned in one of my father’s letters here.
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16 DLI POW HOME
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