Troops on return from Lager Lechfeld Prisoner of War Camp

Troops on return from Lager Lechfeld Prisoner of War Camp

Griffiths, Richard

My grandfather, Private Richard Griffiths is in the middle row, second from the left. He was shot in both arms in battle in early 1918 and taken prisoner by the German Forces.

He always remembered that the German Doctors had taken the trouble to ask him what he did in civilian life and when he had replied that he was a tailor, they had said they would do their best to take care of his hands and restore the movement and feeling to his fingers. He carried the scars of the bullet wounds throughout his life but always remembered the kindness and thoughtfulness of the German doctors.

The main camp at Lager Lechfeld was a large one with different sections for the different Allied nationalities. British prisoners were lucky compared to the Russians and Serbians, as they received occasional parcels from the British Red Cross. There was some bartering with the other allies, however. A Russian had carefully whittled a beautiful wooden box with a hinge and carved lid from a single piece of wood he had found around the camp, and he exchanged a bar of soap from his parcel for this box, which remains a family treasure to this day. Prisoners were also allowed to send home photos of themselves and the camp as postcards, and in return were allowed to keep one photo of their family.

The many hundreds of prisoners would organise concerts for themselves and the guards, and Richard, having a fine singing voice was always in demand. The guards would shout You sing, Welshie, and Taid would sing. ˜Arafa Don', ˜Elen Fwyn' and ˜Sul Y Blodau', those most affecting of Welsh tenor solos having an airing in the depths of Bavaria, before a cosmopolitan and captive audience.

Private Richard Griffiths 41122 (3rd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers) was repatriated at the end of the war and finally demobbed and transferred to the reserves with two blue chevrons (signifying two years Overseas Service) and one wound stripe on 11 April 1919. His two brothers Ellis and Arthur also returned safely to Liverpool.

However, he was to feel the effects of war again in 1940, when, having established a busy and successful Tailor's shop on North John Street, Liverpool, this received a direct hit during the blitz “ not getting proper compensation from the Board of Trade, he started again from scratch at over 60 years of age.

He lived until the age of 86, a tolerant, intelligent, hardworking and gentle man, loved and respected by everyone who knew him.

1918

England

Photograph

Photographic paper

Photograph

Richard Marshall

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The Great War Archive, University of Oxford / Primary Contributor

The Great War Archive, University of Oxford

Kate Lindsay (Caernarfon Submission Day 8th May 2008)

Mairwen Haldane