Fred Wilson

Fred Wilson, from Western Australia, was a Private in the 2/32 Infantry Battalion. He was captured at El Alamein in October, 1942. During his captivity he kept a notebook of his movements, culminating in his escape in 1945. It reads as follows:

Captured at El Alamein  31.10.42
Arrived at Tripoli  11.11.42
Left again on the  13.11.42
Landed at Sicily  17.11.42
Arrived at Capua  19.11.42
Left again on the 8.12.42
Arrived at Udine 9.12.42
Left again on the 13.9.43
Arrived at Spittal, Austria 14.9.43
Left again on the 23.11.43
Arrived at Friedberg 25.11.43 (Friedberg is in Eastern Austria)
Left again on the 22.6.44
Arrived at Larfnitz 22.6.44 (probably Lafnitz)
Left on the 1.4.45
Arrived at Ikeburg (Eichberg) 1.4.45

Fred's notebook then continues:

Escaped on the 2.4.45. The Russians got us on the 15.4.45 and we left Larfnitz on the 16.4.45 and crossed the Austrian border into Hungary on the 18.4.45 and arrived at Budapest on the 23.4.45. In Budapest we were put into a Russian internment camp where we stayed for 18 days, then we left again on the 12.5.45. On the 13.5.45 we crossed over the border into Rumania and we passed over the border from Romania into Russia on the 17.5.45 and arrived in Odessa on the 20.5.45 and went aboard the boat and sailed on the 23.5.45, stopped at Istanbul on the 24.5.45 and next day passed through the Dardanelles into the Aegean Sea. On the 29.5.45 we entered Naples harbour and left again for Gibraltar on the next day. Arrived there on the 1.6.45 and left again on the 5.6.45 and arrived at Scotland (?) on the 9.6.45 and disembarked on the 11.6.45 for Eastbourne(?) and arrived on the 12.6.45. 

Fred was discharged from the army on the 26th September 1945 in Perth, Western Australia.

He died at home in Albany, Western Australia in 1997.

(Details supplied by his son, Bruce Wilson)