Harry Finlayson Harry was a prisoner of the Italians in PG 65. What I am wondering is why he was taken to Greece first.
Harry Finlayson Looking again at his date of capture perhaps he was on the ill fated Jason. All those who survived spent quite some time in Greece before being taken to Italy.
I bet they had " a ball" together the other night !! :clapping::clapping: wonderful !! Army pal back from the dead | Somerset News | Western Daily Press
Having a Ball Several years ago at a Stalg 1VB Reunion I was with two veterans who hadn't seen each other since 1945. It was me who woke up with the hangover,and didn't feel much better when they were sat eating a full English.
Harry Finlayson Thanks for the link Annie. It appears my suspicions were well founded. There were 2,000 P.O.W. on the ship but 1800 or so survived. These figures are very rounded as I have over 200 "Commonwealth Casualties"listed. Although there are several accounts of Coloured South African Casualties in the incident,there appears to be none listed by C.W.G.C. with the relevent "C" or "N" prefix to their Service Nos.
Perish the thought you would have a hangover Brian !! :beer_yum: How many Coloured South African Casualties did make the CWGC at all ?
Brian do you have to have an official figure for the number of casualties. Having been looking around for last 20 minutes I am struck by the disparity in numbers - anything from 100 to 300+ This is an interesting description: NgaToa: The Enemy Offered Hope: By Ken Wright.
The Jason K, I have corresponded with Ken in the past regarding the Jason and directed him to known sources in Australasia.Seven years ago I did discuss the attack on the Jason with 9 New Zealand survivors during a trip to the Country. The only way to get any type of figure is to use C.W.G.C. Records which give 218 Remembered at El Alamein and 17 buried at Athens. These are obviously all Commonwealth casualties. None of the South Africans listed have the prefix mentioned. I was in contact with Major Keene of the S/African Museum of Military History some time ago and he came up with the figure of 404,but denied any Native S/Africans were amongst them. In 1980 Radio New Zealand interviewed two survivors,Bill Alley and Spence Edge. In the narrative they described that after the ship had been beached they looked through a large gash in the deck towards the bows and saw a long pile of Coloured Casualties 6ft High. This statement and another made by survivors regarding the burial of coloured casualties on the Beach makes me think that as in WW1 they were not put forward for Remembrance. Two books have been written by survivors. No Honour No Glory by Spence Edge and Jim Henderson in the mid 1980s. In the Bag was written by two South African survivors. Drawings by Peter Ogilvie and Words by Newman Robinson. My figures are only for Commonwealth Casualties,but there could quite easily have been none Commonwealth prisoners onboard as there was on the Nino Bixio. I have used the name"Jason"as this is the name survivors use but the Italians had re-named the ship "Sebastiano Venier" when it was commandeered.
Coloured S/Africans Malt Whiskey. I'm not a cheap skate. Although I have all the C.W.G.C. Registers for Egypt,Libya,Tunisia,Greece and Crete it is something I have never had a serious look at other than P.O.W. Casualties at sea.
Wow Brian ! ... I've been trying to see if I can get the book as an ebook .... but if I can't get it ... I'll buy it ... I'd love to read it !
No Honour No Glory Very good ready Annie. I have added a few more names to the list of New Zealand Casualties in the back of the Book. Spent quite some time with Jim Henderson during the visit. His first book Gunner Inglorious is a great read.
What a good way to get the story into the minds of school children - by getting it into the theater ! :clapping: Lightweight Theatre - Gunner Inglorious
Gunner Inglorious Remarkable man who was in fact the first omniped on the South Pole, amongst his other achievements Jim wrote in total 29 books. Got a mention in a couple. It is good to see his work perpetuated.
