Morrison, N
Norman Morrison
Born in Scotland, Norman Morrison left his home country to work in South Africa. At the outbreak of WW2 in 1939 he volunteered to serve with the Natal Field Artillery. He was sent to Potchefstroom (South Africa) military training camp and later shipped with his Regiment to Egypt.
He was captured by the Italians in 1941 at Tobruk and spent 8 months in a prison camp in Benghazi before being transported by train in cattle trucks to Stalag VIIIB which was in or near Breslau close to the Polish Border.
He told his mother, Cynthia Morrison, who never saw her father from 1939 to 1945 and was 14 when he returned, that the American army captured the camp just before VE day which was in May 1945. [Editors note: it’s not clear which camp this relates to. VIIIB was liberated VIIIB on 17th March]
Her never spoke much about his time in Stalag 433. [Editors note: this might be referring to IVB] He said he passed the time away there by studying a bit of accountancy and worked in the vegetable gardens cultivating potatoes. He and a friend did try to escape but got caught. This resulted in a severe beating for the attempted escape – he used to re-live the experience when he had his nightmares (usually hiding under the bed and counting the number of times he was whipped or whatever they did to him).
Red Cross parcels were received at the camps, and this helped a bit but he was still severely underweight after the return to Scotland. He said the men in those camps kept each other going – sort of moral support.
His family say that he lived a full life. After 1945 he was formally demobilised on arrival in Durban (South Africa) his documents state that he got paid 35 days in “lieu of leave”. The 5 years as a POW were apparently considered “absent” from work, so do not get leave paid. He was kind and a gentle giant. He died in 1987 peacefully and was much loved.
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