Corporal Walter Charles Frederick (Wally) Lay

Family/Last name:
Lay
Forename(s) and initial(s):
Walter Charles Frederick (Wally)
Place of birth:
Oxford
Date of birth:
5/8/1908
Nationality:
Service number:
5384156
Rank when captured:
Place of capture:
Cassell
POW number:
10599
Camp
Data sources
The National Archives (UK)Other Sources (WO416 records transcribed by and held at the UK National Archives. Data processed and prepared by Rick Catt and Brian Cooper + Relative's report)

From Ray Read. 09/05/2024

Wally was my father-in-law. He was definitely Walter CHARLES Frederick Lay (not Clarence as originally recorded by TNA). Apparently he substituted Clarence for Charles in order to deceive his German captors.  He didn’t know that he also confused his own side!

Wally died in November 1984. Like many of his generation, he spoke little of his time in captivity, but he bore no grudges, and even went to spend an evening once a week with a German neighbour to improve his German!

Alfred William James Lay was his brother.

    Please include as much information and pictures as you can so that we can create a record of each man’s experience. With tens of thousands of POW records already on site please help us if you can by including at least one of the following: service number, POW number or date of birth.

    Please note that a valid email address is required to submit this form. Your address will be stored in our website database and will be visible to the editors who will process the information you have submitted. We may use it to contact you for clarification or to discuss your submission. Your email address will not appear on the public-facing area of this website and will never be sold or passed to any third party. If you do not want your email address to be stored, please do not submit this form!

    Your details

    POW details

    Please don't guess these details! Only fill out the fields you know for certain.



    0


    0





    Many thanks for taking the time to help improve our data. We are indebted to thousands of volunteers and family members of former POWs for their time and efforts. Thank you for joining their ranks!
    Click Submit to send us the information you have entered.

    0 replies

    Leave a Reply

    Want to join the discussion?
    Feel free to contribute!

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *