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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: liverbird09 on Wednesday 14 May 14 20:29 BST (UK)
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A cousin found a small religious book belonging to my late uncle, inside the cover are written the words P.G 73 Carpi Italy 2.11.42. A.S Hullah SGF.
I've been told my uncle was a POW and two elderly family members remember seeing him looking very emaciated.
My question is: if he made it home, would it be at all likely he would have been sent back to fight after recuperation?
I've found a memorial Swartbroek Churchyard, Netherlands on the CWGC site for a soldier of the same name d.26.11.1944 stating the husband of .. and my aunt's Christian name. I don't have his service number, to verify if it's him.
Regards LB
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Arthur S Hullah was b 1914 and married 1942 but I cannot see any cwgc entry for that name with a death in 1944
There is a death matching that name and birthyear in 2001 in Leeds.
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Oops, his name wasn't Hullah, I don't know who that name written in the book refers to.
The name of the soldier in the memorial was James Cannell.
It may be just a coincidence of the same names...James & wife May.
Some of the family stories can sometimes be a little misleading and I'm unsure if there's a way I can verify if it's him.
Thanks Carole, my apologies for the misunderstanding.
Regards LB
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hi
after doing some searching it may be james was in the royal artillery there is both attestation records for a james and also a james Arthur cannel and also an Arthur hullah attestation record for the same regt so he may well have been one of james service mates .
pg 73 carpi was a camp near Modena in Italy , I found a fairly new site on Italian pow camps they have an e mail address where you can ask for look ups on pows try here at www.powsitaly.weebly.com another source that may be able to help is the international red cross they helped pows on release from the camps try here www.icrc.org/...12572E200322DD7
I,m sure others will be able to assist you more .
regards
trevor
that icrc link isn,t working I,ve tried modifying it but to no avail
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Thank you Trevor, I'll give those suggestions a try.
I guess he must have returned home for the book to have turned up. Although the relatives who are still with us have no recollection of what became of him, sadly.
Many thanks
Jean
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Just found out the International Red Cross have temporarily suspended research into POW ..they're doing a conservation & scanning project, it'll be a few years before online research. The first set of archives will be the French Collection online in 2016.
Back to the drawing board. :-\
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A S Hullah....
Reverand, Royal Army Chaplains. Reported POW in The Times 8th July 1941
http://www.mywesleyanmethodists.org.uk/page/wesleyan_methodist_ministers_who_served_in_the_armed_forces_during_ww1
Albert Swales Hullah (1885-1966)
He became a minister in the Irish Conference in 1911. Soon after the outbreak of the First World War he became a Chaplain in the Army. He was a contemporary of ‘Woodbine Willie’ in front line service in France, and was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous courage in March 1918. During the Second World War he volunteered for further chaplaincy service, although he was over age, and was a prisoner of war in German hands from May 1941 to September 1944, exercising a powerful ministry in the prison camp.
The Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society confirms he was a POW in Italy too.
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Thanks Spikey, that's very interesting to know.
I guess the POW's were given the book by the chaplain in their time of need.
The Reverend obviously made it home from being a POW in Italy.
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You could always try the first obvious source and have WO 344/54/1 File checked at Kew for a Liberation report.
Unfortunately not all former POW made a report when Liberated.That is unless he Escaped after the Italian capitulation in September 1943.
Oops, his name wasn't Hullah, I don't know who that name written in the book refers to.
The name of the soldier in the memorial was James Cannell.
It may be just a coincidence of the same names...James & wife May.
Some of the family stories can sometimes be a little misleading and I'm unsure if there's a way I can verify if it's him.
Thanks Carole, my apologies for the misunderstanding.
Regards LB
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Thanks very much for your suggestion, I'll give it a go.
Regards LB
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I have been researching some families in Tyrone and Armagh in Northern Ireland and came across your George in the 1911 Census at High Street, Omagh:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Tyrone/Omagh_Urban/High_Street/875336/
A very unusual name in NI and the only occurence of the name in the 1911 Census of Ireland.