Henry Lund's War Chapter 7 'Release the the Journey Home'

On the 28th April we arrived at Newdorf at about 7 p.m. We were taken off in groups of 50 to barns and were getting some straw for our beds. A prisoner came in and said “Corporal there are some Americans outside!” I said “Bring them in”. He told me to go and look. I went outside the barn and there in the road were about 30 tanks with German soldiers standing on top. I was trying to make out what was going on when a voice from inside the tank said “Say Bud are you a Limey?”. I said I was a British soldier P.O.W. “Who are you?”. He said “We are the American Third Army you had better get your head down before it is blown off.” I said “What about those Germans”. He said “They are my prisoners if I gets it”. They got it.

From then on it was bedlam. We disarmed the guards and took them prisoner and went out on the town. I saw slave labour women at a big store. They broke the windows, stripped naked and changed into new clothes. We found a huge wine store and drank and drank.

We sat talking with the American soldiers and a Sergeant was laying on a bed. I was on the floor. He said how long were you a P.O.W. I said 5 years. He got off the bed and said “You have it, you deserve it better than me”.

During the night the Germans tried to counter with an attack. The Americans opened up with quick firing mortar rockets. It was the first time I had seen or heard them. It was like a dozen thunder storms.

We were left at Newdorf for about 10 days. We had Red Cross food, but were in very poor condition.

On the 8th May we were flown by Dakota aircraft to Brussels where we were cleaned up and given cash. That night we were released on Brussels and we did a conga through anywhere we thought we would go.
While on the aircraft to Brussels the pilot came back to us and told us that Donetz had asked for peace. I said never mind about peace, who is flying this aircraft. He said ‘George’, which was my first introduction to auto flying.

We left Brussels on 9th May and flew to Westcott in Berkshire.

When we arrived there a young WAAF insisted on carrying my bag. They did not seem to understand that the joy of setting foot on English soil once again was enough to make us all feel well again. I must have looked a bit rough as I only weighed 7 stone, which at 33 years was a bit thin.

We had to be interviewed by security and I got away about 1 a.m. 10th May I went to the phone and asked the operator to get me my wife’s parents’ number at Burgess Hill. A sleepy voice asked very testily why I didn’t know the number. I said I had been away for some time. He said “Where”. I said “In a prison camp for five years”. He said “Right” click, click, click and I was through to Burgess Hill. I said “How much?” and he said “You talk to your wife for the rest of the night if you like, it will cost you nothing.

Most of next day was spent in interview and late afternoon we were taken into Aylesbury by T.V.Cs. On arrival in the square there was a huge bonfire. Two stone lions had been painted red and blue and it had a large white ‘V’ painted on it. My friend and I went into a pub and I asked for a pint of beer, it was bedlam in there, everyone shouting out for booze. I asked two or three times for a drink and the barmaid said you will have to wait. I said “I have waited five years for a drink”. She said “Where have you been”. I told her. The next thing I knew was two soldiers picking my friend and I up and carrying us to a table. One of them brushed all the glasses on to the floor and I think everyone in the pub bought us a drink.

The next day we were given passes and sent home. I travelled to Burgess Hill and then to Keymer Road, I knocked on the back door and opened it and saw a very small boy hiding behind a cupboard. He looked at me with two very wide brown eyes and fled upstairs shouting “My Daddy’s home”. I can picture him now dressed in short pants and a floral overall. He was then nearly 5 years old and this was the first time I had seen him.

This was the start of trying to get back to something of a normal way of life.

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