Pte George Reid 14692314

Pte G ReidHis inscription on the wall and “Returning PoW Questionnaire” provide us with certain basic facts regarding Pte George Reid.

 

 

For instance, he was from Walsall, which is where both Colin and Glyn originally hailed from.

His full name was George Charles Reid and he was born on 9th November 1924.

The form goes on to say that he enlisted in December 1944 – which cannot be right as it is after he was captured! Perhaps 1943?

He was one of several of the men to be at Teschen and working in the mines at Hindenberg. Like others he took part in the Long March. According to his wife, he talked about the hardships of this experience a great deal, and felt he had barely managed to survive it.

Genealogy Records

The 1939 register has him as George junior as his father had the same name. He was that time working as a yard boy. The area was redeveloped after the war, so, though the address still exists, it is not the building in which he lived.

He returned to Walsall after the war, where he married in 1948.  The couple had at least one son.

On his returning PoW questionnaire he described himself as a slaughterman. He continued in the butchery trade, later running his own shop. We have not been able to locate where it was situated.

In later life they moved to live in Shropshire – near Bridgnorth.   He died in 2013.