Davis, V R
Chief Petty Officer V R Davis
On 29/12/2012 14:12, Philip Stephen Davis wrote:
December 29, 2012
Regarding my late father: VICTOR RALPH DAVIS (b.1918; d.1965). Royal Naval Chief Petty Officer (Submarines). Prisoner No. 32815
My late father was a prisoner in Stalag VIIIB from 1942-1945, I know this to be true as he not only told me before he died, but I also have his dog-tag and photos etc. of him with his friends “Sandy” Saunders and “Dutchy” Holland, who all escaped towards the end of the war and returned to the U.K. I also have a photo of the three men taken when they were in the camp.
I could not find his name on the list of prisoners, or that of “Dutchy” Holland, although I do not know Dutchy’s full name. Unfortunately, my father died in 1965, and Dutchy died – I believe – in 1946 or 1947. All three men were British Naval submariners whose sub was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea by an Italian destroyer in 1942 whilst they were on mine-laying operations. They were transported from – I think – Sicily to Stalag VIIIB where they remained until their escape in 1945. I note that there is a “Sandy” George Alexander Saunders, whom I once met in the late 1950s or early 1960s, when my father took us to visit his family in Stroud, England.
Editor’s Note:- Submarine not identified at this time.
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