"... I lay in a deep furrow in the ploughed field bleeding profusely back and front and through the mouth. They decided that I was finished, so they left me." Tom is married with two children and four grandchildren and is now living in Longton, Stoke on Trent. His main hobby is amateur radio, in which he currently holds a class A licence. Tom also enjoys a spot of gardening. Tom describes the Second World War as a traumatic period of his life. After being badly wounded, Tom found himself at the gates of the infamous Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp. At the age of eighty four Tom is so grateful that he is still here to tell the tale.
Two weeks before the end of the War I found myself at the gates of Belsen concentration camp. We all know what happened there, but I didn't find out until much later. I was machine gunned in the stomach by a small pocket of resistance just outside the camp. The stretcher bearers came and looked at me as I lay in a deep furrow in the ploughed field bleeding profusely back and front and through the mouth. They decided that I was finished, so they left me. Two of my colleagues saw the state that I was in and rushed forward to try and stem my bleeding with their field dressings. Then they lifted me onto a stretcher, just as we came under intensive fire again. For their self-preservation they put me on top of the furrow and used me as a shield. All the time I was praying to be hit again because I knew I was going to die and I wanted it to be quick. But our tanks went forward and silenced the resistance and I was carried to the first aid post. I was drifting in and out of consciousness. Everyone knew I was going to die. The orderlies straightened my legs and crossed my arms ready for the body bag. And, even though I'm not a Catholic, the Priest gave me the last rites, before relieving me of my personal effects to send then to my next of kin. Just as he was tugging at my watch I came to. "Geddoff!" I said to him, thinking he was robbing me. I was taken to a German general hospital in Celle for major surgery. It saved my life and that's why I'm here today to tell you my story. | 
