Ralston, W

Sergeant William Ralston

Family/Last name:
Ralston
Forename(s) and initial(s):
William
Date of birth:
1915
Nationality:
Canada
Military Unit:
Royal Canadian Air Force
Rank when captured:
Sergeant
Place of capture:
Brussels, Belgium
Date of capture:
15/5/1942
Camp
Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf / Stalag 344
Data sources
Other Sources (Relative's Report)
View a commemorative certificate for this prisoner

Date: 22 April 2016 

Subject: STALAG 344 – NEW POW NAMES

I have just come across your website and note that your list of names relies on people telling you them. I am aware of three names that are not on your list, all RAF sergeants whose Halifax crashed in Belgium on 28th April 1942. They are:

    Ronald Barry Shoebridge b 1919

    William Ralston (RCAF b 1915) and

    H “Dixie” Lee (DoB not known)

Ronald Shoebridge was my father-in-law. He and Bill Ralston (and their pilot, Larry Carr) were helped by the Belgian Comete Line. They were on the run in Brussels until about May 15th when they were arrested in a dawn raid. Larry Carr escaped to England.  

I have seen correspondence between Ron and his fiance in England that shows he was in Stalag Luft III on July 2nd, 1942 but transferred to VIIIB about three weeks later. 

Dixie Lee was denounced and arrested soon after the crash and sent to Stalag Luft I initially. The letters mention that Dixie Lee was in Lamsdorf in August 1942 and the Comete line website lists Bill Ralston as being in Lamsdorf too. 

I do not know about the others, but Ron was on the Long March in 1945 and reached the UK on 21st April 1945.

 

Ian Hammond

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