Keel, E

,

Driver Edward Keel

Family/Last name:
Keel
Forename(s) and initial(s):
Edward
Place of birth:
Wigan, England
Date of birth:
1906
Service number:
203971
Military Unit:
British Army, Royal Army Service Corps
Rank when captured:
Driver
Date of capture:
1942
Camp
PG 73 Fossoli di Carpi, Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf / Stalag 344
Data sources
Other Sources (Relative's report)
View a commemorative certificate for this prisoner

Information provided by Ann Stewardson :

My uncle, Edward Keel was born 1906 in Wigan
Service: RASC
No 203971
Driver no 417
Declared missing 29/6/42
Captured 1942
POW Camp no. 73 Fossoli de Carpi near Modena, Italy
Transferred to Stalag VIIIB/344 1943
(he remained there until end of the war and went on the “death march” finally being rescued by the American forces)
He spoke little of it, although it was clear to all the family afterwards that what he witnessed deeply affected him for the rest of his life. I don’t even know his army company detail – although maybe someone will from the uniform, cap badge etc (see Photo). I know he was released by 1945 – and was involved in the long “death march” across Germany. He did tell us that he was given a gun by the Americans(?) to despatch which ever Germans he felt like – he declined. Rations must have been tough – and we knew that he must have had a lot of beetroot – as he could never face it after the war. One Christmas in their prison hut, they made decorations out of toilet paper. However it caught fire (perhaps from a lighted candle). I wonder if anyone else remembers that?

 

 

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