GERMAN PRISON CAMP LIFE
I ALL BLACK FORWARD FAIRY IN I PLAY I Captivitv in a German prison camp m Ins its lighter moments, judging hy I letters received last wepk from Private II R. Ilenrv by his mother, Mrs J. Floui), 1 Christchurch. Though ho has been in I Gorman hands since the Greek eani--1 pain'll, Private Henry has not lost ins I sense of humour, and lie was able to I eiiiov the appearance ot a burly All H Black forward as a fairy in a prison II camp play. ~ || “ I am in a road working party. 11 writes Private Henry, “ and the work || makes the time pass fairly quickly. \\ e H have very comfortahe living quarters, H are well fed, and can got cigarettes. 8 and the guards treat ns very well, so H our condition is much better than you G have probably thought. We get paid 1 about Is 2d a day, and have a canteen || pi the camp to supply our needs. On || Saturday nights we have a concert, and 1 onr room plans to put on a small play H next week, which ought to help a lot I in the general entertainment.” S When next he wrote the play had 1 been held. “ This week-end has :h*en ■ quite eventful,” lie comments. “ Tim H month’s cigarettes arrived, we staged H our play, and parcels arrived at camp | from the British Rod Cross, to ho H issued next week. The play was a com--1 bination of ‘ Snow White ’ and our H own work, and proved a roaring suek cess, due largely to the appearance of I the author, an artist and former uniII versify man from'Reading, as the coils' tractor, and Hadley, a former All i Black, as the fairy. !| “As each week passes I become more I; and more efficient at shovel-leaning. I In fact, the relief workers are not in | it. In my first three months of capII tlvity I both saw - and experienced quite I a lot. It will ho interesting telling I when I get hack. As a glance at the i map will show, it included a voyage I over half Europe, which, even nnclor || adverse conditions, could hardly fail i to have its interest,” 1 Private Henry, who wont overseas 1 almost exactly a year ago, wai a sneS cossful student at Canterbury College, is 'iradnatiiig master of arts, shortly bell fore he sailed, at the age of 20 years, H He is ah accomplished pianist. I Ho was reported missing in May, and II some time later advice was received H that he was a prisoner of war. Ho 1 wrote a card himself from Athens on I May 14, stating that lie had been capII tnred. hut that did not. reach his parii cuts till six months later.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19411231.2.92
Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 24082, 31 December 1941, Page 10
Word Count
472GERMAN PRISON CAMP LIFE Evening Star, Issue 24082, 31 December 1941, Page 10
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Star. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.