McNeil, T
Thomas "Mac" McNeil
Information provided by Jean Richards.
I am the youngest daughter of Thomas McNeil (also known as Mac) who sadly died in 1999 but who was a prisoner in Stalag VIIIB and was part of the Long March.
Dad did not talk about his experiences at all while we were growing up but did begin to talk to his grandchildren when they became teenagers in the late 1980s……..
He was a navigator/gunner on a Bristol Blenheim aircraft shot down over France early in the war (1940 or 1941). He spoke of a Polish pilot and may also have flown with Canadians. Dad managed to escape prisoner of war camps 3 times and was recaptured on the French/Spanish border on the last occasion when he was taken to Stalag VIIIB. His memories included potato soup, meeting a German camp commandant who talked football with him – specifically Glasgow Rangers when he discovered Dad’s Scottish accent, building a factory wall for 3 years (one day they laid a row of bricks and the next day they knocked them down), swapping identities in the camp with an Australian soldier who needed medical treatment so he would be closer to the perimeter fences, marching to Berlin with German guards and being freed by Americans who gave them doughnuts as their first ‘proper’ food.
My mother, Betty McNeil, who is now 90 would be really pleased if Dad’s name can be added to this website. Thank you for remembering all these heroes.
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