Gail - My Dad may have known your uncle Bruce Baker My father, Albert Wallace, was shot down in May 1943 (RCAF, 419 Squadron) and lived at Stalag Luft III until the camp was evacuated for the great march across Germany at the end of January 1945. Thank you for the pictures. I am writing about my Dad's PoW experiences and am blessed that he is still living in good health. I have asked him a few times if he would like to visit what's left of the camp, but he shows little interest. To Gail Baker Wasson: My Dad may have known your uncle Bruce Baker, both from home in Toronto before the war and from the camp. It's, of course, always possible that there were 2 Bruce Bakers and there is one discrepancy. I have all the letters that Dad wrote to his Mom from the camp and in one of the first ones he wrote (May 26/43) he says, "Phone bible class and tell them that Bruce Baker is here." (Dad lived on St. Clarens Avenue in downtown Toronto. I know my Dad went to bible class at Dufferin Presbyterian Church.) In another letter (Sept. 15/43) he says "I see Baker every day and we walk around the camp a lot." In a postcard (Feb. 3/44) he says, "Bruce Baker has moved to another camp." This last is the discrepancy I referred to earlier. Your comment said that your uncle was at Stalag Luft III until the march (end of January 1945).
Stalag Luft 111 Hi my father Anthony Graham Sadler (100Sqd, pilot of Lanc. EE183) was there from 1944 to the end in 1945. I too wish I had spoken to my father about his time there. I would also like to visit the site, thanks for posting the photos cheers Mike Sadler
Related Photos Sorry Anu, for the lack of photos - we have been posting photos to our flickr site instead - it is easier while we are on the road. You can see our pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/heroandkeira/sets/
Enjoy
keira
At New Eccles Hall School in Norfolk England we host the museum to the 96th Bombardment Group who were part of the Eighth Airforce. Some of the aircrew shot down over Europe were imprisoned in S.Luft3 I have visited the site some years ago (2005) and we now have a section on SL3 in our museum.
So true Hi Keira,
What you say is soo true isn't it. I remember feeling the same at the incongruencies of the world when I visited Fiji when I was 17 and again in India and Egypt in my 20's and again a few years ago when the family visited Vietnam. When I hear of the yearly budget spent on defence of the various world powers - both big and small- I can't help but wonder how vital it is to stop our ludicrous race for arms and instead link them and unite to fight the global issues of poverty, inadequate education and health support that so many of us face. How much smarter would that be...but alas....wisdom is not an important measure in the race for power and control! Loved the blog and it brought back all the mixed feelings I experience when I travel among those so much less financially and educationally advantaged than I. Bless you both...Jenny xoxoxo
WOW and thanks Hi Keira and Hero,
Absolutely love your travel log and your incredible photos. The kids and the gorillas are unbelievable. That final shot of the baby with the incredibly soulful eyes is haunting. Also love the canoe on the lake with misty mountains in the background. Feels like a Dian Fossey remake.
My brother is in South America at present and my niece has been woofering (working on organic farms) all over turkey, europe and now has a job in scotland so with you guys doing your incredible travels all over the place as well I feel incredibly loose footed and keen to hit the travel trail in a big way.
my boys are in yr 12 this year and Meg in Yr 10 so will have to wait for a short while yet.
Keep travelling and loving every minute...you are certainly building a lifetime of memories into your time...just love reading it. Sooo inspiring and the serendipitous connections made along the way are also an important part of the magic of it all.
Loads of love and light to you both,
Jenny (Binks)
xoxoxoxo
hey M
glad the post arrived! be interested to hear what you think of the various clippings. we're terribly slack with the upkeep of the blog but will get there eventually. felt very virtuous having finally got some photos up on flickr... it took us two whole days!!!
k.xx
alpha and omega travelling in the developing world always brings that sense of joy mingled with despair or despair lightened momentarily by moments of beauty. how lovely for that little pup to have you calming it while it died. feel very weepy thinking about it all sitting here in my very comfortable house in my very comfortable life. there must be a reason for our exposure to such experiences. they call for action.
beware bilharzia! hello, keira and hero, what an amazing experience you are having. just make sure the water is free of lurking parasites waiting for juicy white flesh! loving your entries.
Hi Gail
Thanks for the message that you sent :-) We're really glad that our photos give meaning to others as well as ourselves, especially Hero. I'm sorry to hear about your uncle's experiences - judging by the time he was there, perhaps he and Hero's grandfather (Ian Stewart Horatio Sidney Macdonald - long name, I know!) knew each other?
I can't remember anymore, but we may have added a few extra photos of Stalag Luft onto our flickr site than we did the blog site. Here is the link just in case: www.flickr.com/photos/heroandkeira/collections
Cheers
Keira and Hero
I read every blog nice blog work Hero, what a great trip.
hope you guys are being super cautious....this sounds dangerous....I did have a moment thinking you were blogging from a brixton flat....but u two are just mad enough to be doing it for real!!
when can we expect a big slide night here in the wilds of Fairfield?
love
m
xxxx
Thank you Thank you for posting the pictures of Stalag Luft III. My Uncle Bruce Baker was taken there in April, 1943 and endured the life there until the march across Germany at the end of the war. So interesting to see from your pictures what remains of the camp.
We are from Canada and will never see the ruins, so thank you for sharing. Gail Baker Wasson
Hi girls, Hope all is going well over there . We are celebrating Louise's birthday today . The girls are well and send their best . Look forward to more updates . Stay safe!
jarn, what could i do... she was a pretty forceful woman (and i would have had to take on the whole family!)! i think it took me a while to fully compute that someone had actually sat on me, and obviously not by accident as she didn't move off in any kind of hurry!! then thankfully some more room became available and she slid off me...
Wow Hi girls, I found my way to your blog - with a little help from Louise! How are you it is good to be able to follow your travels again.
All well here, we have just celebrated Megan and Michael;s Halloween wedding in Canberra with Lilly and Daemon as flowergirl and pageboy. It certainly was a wedding with a difference, perhaps Teresa or Louise can send you a photo.
Hope you are both well and happy and also Deborah. love from Bev and Gerry
The adventures of Hero and Keira.
A blog for our families and friends, with lots of photos and tales of our travels, so that they can keep track of us wherever we go...
... full info
Barbara Trendos
non-member comment
Gail - My Dad may have known your uncle Bruce Baker
My father, Albert Wallace, was shot down in May 1943 (RCAF, 419 Squadron) and lived at Stalag Luft III until the camp was evacuated for the great march across Germany at the end of January 1945. Thank you for the pictures. I am writing about my Dad's PoW experiences and am blessed that he is still living in good health. I have asked him a few times if he would like to visit what's left of the camp, but he shows little interest. To Gail Baker Wasson: My Dad may have known your uncle Bruce Baker, both from home in Toronto before the war and from the camp. It's, of course, always possible that there were 2 Bruce Bakers and there is one discrepancy. I have all the letters that Dad wrote to his Mom from the camp and in one of the first ones he wrote (May 26/43) he says, "Phone bible class and tell them that Bruce Baker is here." (Dad lived on St. Clarens Avenue in downtown Toronto. I know my Dad went to bible class at Dufferin Presbyterian Church.) In another letter (Sept. 15/43) he says "I see Baker every day and we walk around the camp a lot." In a postcard (Feb. 3/44) he says, "Bruce Baker has moved to another camp." This last is the discrepancy I referred to earlier. Your comment said that your uncle was at Stalag Luft III until the march (end of January 1945).