Bob & Audrey's War

BOB AND AUDREY Ormrod were a young British couple who met during the Second World War and married in 1942. Both served their country in uniform, he as a pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and she as an officer in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS).

They were to be separated for much of the war, initially due to Bob’s pilot training in the USA under the Arnold Scheme and again following his return to the UK and joining 578 Squadron, based at RAF Burn near Pontefract. His flying career was to be brief: his Halifax bomber was shot down over France on the night of 24th February 1944, on only his second operation. He  made a parachute landing and for a time was sheltered by members of the French Resistance, but was eventually captured and became a prisoner of war.

At first incarcerated at St-Gilles Prison, Brussels he was interrogated and then sent to Stalag Luft VII at Bankau in Upper Silesia (now in Poland) from where, along with many other Allied POWs, he was to endure the privations of a long forced march in the freezing winter months of early 1945, eventually to arrive by railway box car at Stalag Luft IIIa at Luckenwalde in Germany, from where he was finally liberated a few weeks later.

Throughout this challenging time, Bob and Audrey exchanged letters (although sadly many of hers did not reach him) and this correspondence, meticulously collated, edited and annotated by their son David, forms the basis of this book, although it also contains many additional details of Bob’s experiences in the RAF and as a POW, plus added photographs.

After the war, Bob retrained as a teacher and first taught in secondary schools before switching to primary education. In 1951 he became “first assistant master” at Red Hill Junior School in Chislehurst, where he painted a pictorial map of Kent across the full length of a wall in the entrance hall, where it remained for many years. In 1956 Bob was appointed headteacher of Battle Junior School in Reading and in 1962 became head of Churchend Primary School in Tilehurst until his retirement in 1978. As such, he will be well remembered by his many former colleagues and students.

In retirement Bob turned his creative talent to wood-turning and loved to display and sell his beautiful bowls and other objects at craft fairs. Meanwhile, Audrey developed her creative talent for embroidery, particularly cross-stitch, at which she became something of an expert. She led workshops around the country and exhibited in Henley-on-Thames, at Foyles Bookshop in London and elsewhere. Her “Hands” wall hanging, dedicated to prisoners of conscience, can be seen in the church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower in the City of London.

Publisher - Woodfield Publishing Ltd

Language - English

Perfect Bound

Contributors

By author

David Ormrod

Published Date - 2021-04-19

ISBN - 9781846831966

Dimensions - 21 x 14.8 x 0.6 cm

Page Count - 104