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- Thread starter bseal
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John Lever
Moderator
My uncle was in The Coldstream. Guards.(6' 5'') He was taken prisoner by the Italians. He used the first letter on each line of a letter to tell his wife where he was. Italy.
John Lever
Moderator
All the letters were read by the army who new the code. He was sending info. on troop deployment and numbers. He also asked for a map so that he could escape.PaulGT3 said:
John Lever
Moderator
Are we talking about my uncle of the war hero ?
Not sure about the bloke in the article. My uncle was pow for a few years I think.
Not sure about the bloke in the article. My uncle was pow for a few years I think.
John Lever said:
The majority of POW's were not fervent escapers, and even opposed those who were because of the punitive measures they brought down on themselves and everybody else. Given your uncles height, I doubt he would have been approved by an escape committee as a candidate because I imagine, especially then, that it would have made him very conspicuous. One of my uncles was a pow, and the years he spent in captivity ruined his health for the rest of his life. I think surviving the long years of living in abject squalor and misery makes your uncle a hero in his own right John.
John Lever
Moderator
When Red Cross parcels arrived ( if the guards hadn't eaten them) the butter and the jam would be eaten as is straight out of the box, no bread or other accompaniment. Burt never forgave the Italians as they treated him quite badly.But that's war.
Andrew
Well-Known Member
The other night I watched Michael Mosley's doco on fasting and extended life span. Fascinating stuff suggesting that periods of minimal calorie intake will greatly improve your helath and lifspan.
Thinking it over later it occured to me that two fellas I know/ knew had both lived extremely long lives (my father in law passed away last year at 91 who spent the entire War as slave labour and a mate who spent 3 years at stalag Luft III is still with us at 94). Not exactly a definitive cross section but at the time it would have been unimaginable for them to think they'd still be kicking so many years later. There's probably heaps of similar examples.
Thinking it over later it occured to me that two fellas I know/ knew had both lived extremely long lives (my father in law passed away last year at 91 who spent the entire War as slave labour and a mate who spent 3 years at stalag Luft III is still with us at 94). Not exactly a definitive cross section but at the time it would have been unimaginable for them to think they'd still be kicking so many years later. There's probably heaps of similar examples.
John Lever
Moderator
Unfortunately that is the full extent of my knowledge as he died many years ago.
Andrew said:
Did you see his one on 'the truth about exercise' ? Apparently, just 3 x 1 minute (flat out) on an exercise bike each week can have benefits completely out of proportion to the time and effort required. But also, some people will never get any benefit from exercise however hard they train, you can be tested for this according to the programme. His parting shot was though, because so many of us are so sedentary, 'the chair kills'. (I am sitting as I type
)http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cywtq
