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I served in the army from 1938 until 1952. I was 18 years old, and living in Northern Ireland when I was captured as a P.O.W. in 1939. In Lille, France, the Germans attacked us and only a few of us were left. I was captured as prisoner, and taken to Poland for registration.

They sent me to work on farms straight away, and lived we in barns, where a guard looked after us. Some of the soldiers were sent to work in coal mines or factories in Poland.

After two years, I was sent to East Germany, where I was detained for a further three years. I was released in 1944, when the Russian Tank Army arrived in East Germany, and I stayed with the Russians in Dessan for about two weeks. I slept on the Russian tanks, even if they were on the move, and I was handed over to the Americans, and flown to Brussels by the American Air Force.

I was then taken by the Lancaster Bomber to Southern England, and from there took a train to Liverpool, and a boat back to Belfast.

I was given three months leave, and continued to serve in the army until 1952, when I was invalided out due to an injury received whilst playing hockey.

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