The Oxfordshire prisoner of war freed just before VE Day
Joe Woods was freed from the Stalag IV-F prisoner of war camp in eastern Germany on 7 May 1945, the day before VE Day marked the end of the Second World War in Europe.The camp's liberation, which came on his 24th birthday, brought an end to his four years under German imprisonment."I shall make up for what I have lost," he wrote in a letter to his sister Josie after the camp was liberated.The letter has been shared with the BBC by his family, who live in Chilton in Oxfordshire, as the UK marks eight decades since the end of war in Europe.
Joe's son Keith said to mark the occasion he would "dig out" the archive of his father's time during the war and "have a look through it"."There's always something that reminds you of what's going on, so all these things are good archive to have," he said.
Among the collection is Joe's letter to his sister - one of the first he had been able to send as a free man."I was freed on my birthday, and met up with the yanks [American troops] the following day," he wrote."The Russians were in the next village to ours, it was a great laugh to see the Germans scared stiff of our allies."Having lied about his age to enlist in 1939, he had been in Libya in November 1941 when he was taken prisoner and shipped across the Mediterranean alongside fellow captured soldiers.
But the ship he was on never made it to its destination. It was sunk during an attack by a British submarine.Despite Joe being unable to swim, he "luckily managed to cling to some driftwood" and washed ashore in Greece, his granddaughter Lucy Woods explained."It's quite incredible that he managed to survive that," she said.Having arrived back in Europe, Joe was soon recaptured by Axis forces and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner."Myself I am not too bad, a bit weak from the lack of grub as you might know that when I was in German hands we could not write what we wanted to tell," he wrote after he was freed.Ending the letter to his sister, he said: "I close now with all my love to you dear."
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