Series No. 2

Prisoner of War. -- 1945-1993. -- 10 cm of textual records and 2 photographs :b&w ; 9 x 12.5 cm

Scope and content: This series documents Walker's experiences as a prisoner of war between 1940 and 1945. It includes correspondence from former prisoners, articles by Walker about escape attempts, P.O.W. newsletters, and P.O.W. reunion programmes. Communications with former P.O.W.s discuss life as a P.O.W., escape attempts, drafts of P.O.W. stories, Colditz reunion, and the authenticity of wartime accounts in Lean, Wind Lean as well as personal and family matters.

The series also contains two books written or edited by Walker's friends which deal with their internment at Colditz Castle, "an escape proof camp for captured officers". Detour: The Story of Oflag IVC, a collection of P.O.W. stories, includes "The Wire -- 29 August 1942", Walker's account of an escape attempt.

File arrangement is random.

Title based on contents of series.

Additional correspondence with former P.O.W.s is located in series 1, personal.

A few letters were written by Willa Walker.


BOX NO. 1

Files:

1. Articles - "Escape from Warburg" and "The Wire" (both by DHW)

2. Article published in The Montreal Daily Star, 20 April 1945 announcing DHW's release from Oflag IVC, Colditz

3. The Colditz Association - 1981-91 (correspondence, copies of newsletter, newspaper clippings, and programme of Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving)

4. Colditz Castle - Oflag IVC reunion, 1993 (correspondence, newspaper clippings, reunion programme)

5. Correspondence with former P.O.W.s: Jack Champ, Colin Burgess, Raefe Douthwaite, Michael J. Booker, 1946, 1982-85, 1992 (includes newspaper clippings, 2 photographs of a wire fence, and article, "The Warburg Wire Job" by Jack Champ)

6. Correspondence with former P.O.W.s Mike Moran, Phil Pardoe, 1983-85, n.d. (includes photocopy of prison photos of Walker and seven others)

7. Correspondence about Warburg Wire Escape, 1945-53 (includes draft of "The Wire" and "Olympia" by DHW about the escape)

8. The Colditz Story by P.R. Reid, M.B.E., M.C. (1960, 1957)

9. Detour: The Story of Oflag IVC edited by Lieut. Wood, M.C. (1946)


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