News History group unravel World War II memories
JOHN DOUGLAS EASBY... Goole men shared some of his worst wartime experiences. (10-07-58 SU)
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There were surprises in store for Mrs Jane Pulleyn, of Brierley Close in Howden, when she renewed her interest in World War II.
She already had some knowledge of those troubled times after her father compiled a record of his war service before his death. Then, earlier this year Mrs Pulleyn, joined other members of a local history group researching the part played in the war by Howden and district. And that research led her to discover that although her father - a Sheffield man - never visited the Goole area during the 1939-45 conflict, two surviving former Goole men are able to throw new light on some of her father's worst wartime experiences.
Mrs Pulleyn made her discovery when reading Mike Marsh's account of the local wartime years, Goole at War, published by Chronicle Publications and based largely on articles which appeared in the Goole Times*.
Mrs Pulleyn's father, John Douglas Easby, serving as a sergeant in the Royal Artillery, was taken prisoner in North Africa in 1941. Subsequently he was held at Sulmona Camp in Italy. A prisoner at the same camp at the same time was Cecil Armitage, who had left Goole Grammar School in 1940 to become a pilot in the RAF.
Shot down and wounded off Malta in 1942, he was captured when rescued from the sea by the crew of an Italian float 'plane. As chronicled in Goole at War, Volume 2, Mr Armitage managed to escape from Sulmona in 1943 and made his way back to England and his then home in East Cowick.
"Unlike Cecil, my father's escape attempts were unsuccessful," said Mrs Pulleyn. "He was repeatedly recaptured."
Then came another surprise when Mrs Pulleyn turned to Goole at War, Volume 3: "You can imagine my amazement when I read the account by Tom Frayne on the bombing of the ammunition train at Aquila by the Americans in December, 1943. My father was injured in the incident and spent a period of time in hospital, where he even befriended a German soldier with whom he corresponded after the war. This is all recorded in my father's memoirs and he even referred to the cattle trucks!"
Tom Frayne, whose parents then lived in Morley Street, Old Goole, had been wounded and captured while serving in Italy with the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. His account in Goole at War tells how a train of cattle trucks crammed with allied prisoners and bound for Germany was stationary at the Aquila railhead when it was wrecked in a raid by American bombers. Because of his wounds he was trapped in the blazing wreckage but his life was saved when he was pulled clear by a friend.
"I was amazed to read the accounts of Cecil Armitage and Tom Frayne," said Mrs Pulleyn, "as they were so close in detail to my father's memoirs. It was quite emotional to read that two men had shared the same dreadful experiences and survived."
Tom Frayne and his wife now live in Essex. For many years after the war he ran a car repair business. Cecil Armitage qualified as a dentist after the war and now lives in Cheshire.
After reading of their wartime exploits, Mrs Pulleyn contacted Goole at War author Mike Marsh, and he put her in touch with both men.
"I have spoken to Mr Armitage and Mr Frayne on the telephone," she said. "They are both charming gentlemen and interesting to listen to. I have received a very interesting letter from Mr Armitage, who now remembers my father as a cheerful, friendly person and someone who kept his hair tidy with an unusual parting - that would be my dad!
"Cecil also sent me a couple of photos of Sulmona and a plan of the layout of the huts, each of which held 100 men in two-tier wooden bunks. Their experiences are so similar to my father's and they have described them so well that I now have a much clearer picture of what actually went on and I understand better what it was like for all these brave men. We have arranged to speak again and Tom Frayne is to visit us in Howden to continue our dialogue."
Mrs Pulleyn and her husband moved to Howden in 1993. Her mother, who died in 1976, served during the war with the Red Cross.
As a member of the Territorial Army, Mrs Pulleyn's father was called up shortly before the outbreak of war. Enduring harrowing conditions during his own escape attempts and the train bombing in Italy, he eventually spent many months in the POW camp at Moosberg, in Germany. After surviving one of the appalling long-distance marches many prisoners were forced to undertake towards the end of the war, he was finally freed by soldiers of General Patten's Army on May 1, 1945. He died in 1989.
"My father always said the true aspects of war were never reflected in films etc. So I persuaded him to write his memoirs in the mid-1980s, mainly for the benefit of his grandchildren. This he did in longhand in two large notebooks.
"When I read the memoirs for the first time my reaction was one of sorrow that he had suffered so much and that the war had changed his life so much. He was in his prime when the war started but he would never be the same again. I also felt great pride in what he had done but surprised that he hardly ever spoke of his experiences."
* Copies of 'Goole at War', by Mike Marsh, are available from the Goole Times offices. Volume One is £5.99; Volume Two is £6.95; Volume Three is £7.95. Postage on Volumes One and Two is £1.75; for Volume Three it is £2.25.
Published on 10th July 2008 in News.
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