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Missing, presumed dead.

Morturn

Morturn

Super Moderator
Staff member
I am trying to understand the circumstance behind a story of a chap in WWII. He was reported on by the army to his wife as missing presumed dead, then tuned up very much alive after the war.

I thought that any prisoners of war captured by hostile armies were reported back to the allies?
 
hi mort how long was it after the war ended that he turned up.....did he not tell his wife what happened to him

lyn
 
Hi Lyn, I believe that he was missing for a couple of years, how long after the war I will try and find out. The wife had started to build a new life with another man who stepped aside when he turned up again.
 
I imagine that there must be a lot of reasons why this could have happened.

Communications about and with prisoners of war seem to have been reasonably good, if slow, and happened thanks mainly to the Red Cross. But they were by no means perfect and much could go wrong. Letters going astray, family moving address and so on. And sometimes the delay in notification of someone becoming a prisoner of war was significant.

If a bloke was captured, he might have had good reason to withhold his identity. A Jewish name, perhaps? Or, as in the case of someone I knew who found himself on one side of a hedge in Normandy with a number of German soldiers on the other - his first thought was to throw away his paybook, just in case. This would have identified him as a marksman = sniper in the event of capture followed by receipt of fairly short shrift.

Or he might have had personal reasons for "disappearing" and what better opportunity than capture to change his identity? He might not even have got into German hands. Did he desert - or just escape and lay low - until reappearance suited him or was even possible?

Or was he injured, physically or mentally........?

All sorts of possibilities. It will be interesting to hear further circumstances.

Chris
 
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Morturn said:
Hi Lyn, I believe that he was missing for a couple of years, how long after the war I will try and find out. The wife had started to build a new life with another man who stepped aside when he turned up again.
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what an amazing story mort....i would think this happened a lot..it would be interesting though to find out just how this happened...as chris has pointed out there are many questions

lyn
 
Thanks again for the replys, I am finding this one quite absorbing. I will of course let you know the outcome if we fine one.
 
My great uncle hailed from Winson Green and was captured by the Japanese in Java in 1942. Like so many others, he was simply declared as 'missing' by the War Department. However, his wife was not informed of his capture until some 18 months later - the Japanese not being a signatory to the Geneva Conventions. By the time she was formally told of his POW status, she had begun a relationship with another soldier which ended in her becoming pregnant. The child was given up for adoption. All very sad really.
 
oh that is very sad jonny but quite understandable that your gt aunt started up another relationship...many thanks for telling us your story

lyn
 
jonny said:
My great uncle hailed from Winson Green and was captured by the Japanese in Java in 1942. Like so many others, he was simply declared as 'missing' by the War Department. However, his wife was not informed of his capture until some 18 months later - the Japanese not being a signatory to the Geneva Conventions. By the time she was formally told of his POW status, she had begun a relationship with another soldier which ended in her becoming pregnant. The child was given up for adoption. All very sad really.
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Hi Jonny, many thanks for telling your story, I did wonder if some POW were just not reported on
 
This is a dreadful story about Johny's great uncle, sadly not unique.
In this instance the uncle had been in captivity for around four years - we are not told where - but wherever it was it was most likely to have been an extremely unpleasant time for him; it might have been on the infamous 'Burma Road'. Now. after his repatriation he arrived home to the scenario described. Many men, might well have had severe difficulties coping with all of these events, hopefully the uncle was not too seriously affected by it all and he and his wife came to terms with their lives.
 
A friend of mine a long time ago had a story about a relative who was taken prisoner in Italy during WW2. According to my friend, this man was never heard from, until some time after the war when he suddenly turned up at his old home. His family were still living there, and you can imagine their shock on seeing him. However, far from being welcomed back to these shores as a hero, he was arrested by the Army and interrogated for being a possible deserter. Nothing came of that, but he was made to serve a period of time back in the Army, and it was only later that my friend's family found out that he had 'gone to ground' somewhere in Italy after the Armistice, where he had left two children behind! It all sounds all a bit unlikely, but I guess there was a degree of turmoil after the War, and perhaps this chap's tale wasn't all that unique. It would make a good film...and probably already has!

G
 
Thanks for your replays, all very interesting stuff.

The latest update I have is he was posted to Burma during WWII. We understand Burma was an ally. The Japanese invaded Burma causing the British to retreat. He got cut off from his regiment but was found by the local Burmese people who hid him from the Japanese army.

He spent several years living with the Burmese people, living in tents etc.
 
thats quite a story mort thanks for updating us..definately could be turned into a cracking film...

lyn
 
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