CAMP HUMOUR

Almost all books on life in PoW camps include numerous humorous anecdotes and apocryphal excerpts from letters allegedly received by inmates of that camp. With few exceptions all those recorded in Milag camp diaries duplicate those claimed as unique to other camps. Survivors of Milag and other camps, firmly believe that they knew someone in another barrack who invariably claimed that they knew the actual recipient. The likelihood is that these extracts, real or invented, went the rounds of most camps and were gratefully seized on as a form of relief from the monotony of everyday existence.

            Letter from girlfriend to PoW; "I couldn't wait for you to come home, so I married your Father, Love Mother."

 THE EXTRACTS FROM TOMMYS DIARY ALL APPEAR IN DIARIES FROM MILAG AND MANY OTHER CAMPS> EACH ONE CLAIMING IT AS THEIR OWN!

            A few anecdotes do seem specific to Milag:-

            One group of seamen who's names had been taken for some misdemeanour at roll call weresuprised to be given a new pair socks each - the Germans had obviously got    their various lists mixed up!

            The night before the camp was liberated one of the Welsh Guards raided a nearby farm and threw some chickens and ducks over the wire to the prisoners. One of the prisoners was seen walking back to his barrack with a live duck under his arm, saying to it, "For you the war is over."

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