Archivist searches for former Prisoner of War - Goole Today Published Date: 18 June 2009 By Stephanie Bateman AN ARCHIVIST is searching for a former Prisoner of War whose last known address was in Pollington. John Reid from Bacup in Lancashire is trying to trace men who produced a secret newspaper while imprisoned in Germany in 1944. He told the Courier: "I am the keeper of a large archive of photographs and documents relating to the RAF during WWII and I wish to appeal to your readers for information. "During some recent research I became aware of a newspaper that was produced during 1944 in a German Prisoner of War camp and called "The Yorkshire Post, Kriegie Edition". "Kriegie was the name given to POW's by the German guards. The newspaper was produced in secret under the noses of the Germans using paper obtained by clandestine means and written completely by hand using home made pen nibs made from the steel banding that secured red cross parcels. "It appears normal writing nibs had been confiscated to try and stop the production of false papers used in escapes. "The original paper was bound in plywood covers and smuggled back to England in the charcoal burner of a German car belonging to a pro-British German doctor where it was received with much acclaim; even Winston Churchill read it and was extremely impressed." The 84 page newspaper contained current news of life and events in Stalag Luft VI plus many drawings, caricatures, poems and cartoons. The idea for this newspaper was that of Sergeant Richard Pape who, in peacetime, worked on the editorial staff of the Yorkshire Post and who believed it would help to raise moral among the Yorkshiremen held prisoner in the camp. It took over five weeks to complete the paper. Mr Reid continued: "After the war the Yorkshire Post made arrangements for this important document to be duplicated and in the end approximately 300 copies were produced in book form and distributed to all the Yorkshiremen who were released from Stalag Luft VI in 1945. "Fortunately their names and last known addresses were included at the back of the book and I am therefore appealing for any information to help trace the individual RAF aircrew member himself or any relatives or friends who knew him." Among those listed was an RAF POW from Pollington called S Sellars of West Road who Mr Reid would like to trace. He added: "I am particularly keen to obtain photographs, documents and letters that can be carefully copied and placed in a special memorial album along with descriptive captions that will complement the Yorkshire Post Kriegie Edition Newspaper. "This will bring out the personal element of all the names listed and become part of the archive as a fitting tribute to all those who spent many years in captivity." Anyone that can help Mr Reid with his search can contact him at 18 Ronaldsway Close, Bacup, Lancashire, OL13 9PY; phone 01706 874 797; or e-mail john.reid27@ntlworld.com.
You should post that on Roots too David ... they love that kind of stuff .... they're slowing up with Fromelles !! How cool that is though ? .... fancy all the work that went into that !!
There is no POW S Sellars. There is a POW S Sellers held at L4: Service number: 569428 POW no: 87 7 Squadron Stirling N3716 Mission to Mannheim 19/20th May 1942 Took off at 23.15 from Oakington. Cause of loss not established. Crashed 02.00 at Oostakker (Oost Vlaanderen), 7 km NNE of Gent, Belgium. Sgt C R Hague POW Camps L3/L6/L4 No 54 P/O W Wiseman RCAF POW Camps L3/L6/357 No 106 Sgt S Sellers POW Camps L3/L6/L4 No 87 Sgt E J Bliss POW Camps L1/L6/357 No.796 Sgt A C Bloomfield POW Camps L1/L6/357 No.797 Sgt P G Trappett RAAF POW Camps L3/344/357 No 100 Sgt F W Whittaker POW Camps L3/L6/357 No104