GERMAN PRISON CAMP LIFE

Evening Star, Issue 24082, 31 December 1941, Page 10

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.