PRISONER OF WAR

It was 1939, and the second world war had just begun, when Tommy George Gallant, then a young man, enlisted as a soldier. He thought that this was a great adventure at the time, and did not realize the danger that might come his way.

Six years later, the war ended, and his mother and father, not having heard a word from him, presumed that he might have ben killed. Each day, his mother Annie, tried to forget the whole episode, to no avail. She would go down the road to visit her neighbour, Sarah MacDonald, (Marjorie MacDonald’s mother). Sarah tried to console this tearful lady and to convince her that Tommy was still alive. His father, George, on the other hand, walked to the post office very evening. He waited until all the mail was sorted, hoping to find some information about Tommy’s whereabouts.

His father’s vigil was not in vain. One evening, he went to the post office as usual, and there it was, a letter addressed to him stating that his son, Tommy, was not missing in action, but instead a prisoner of war. Everyone in the post office shouted for joy, and George was relieved that his son was still alive.

It was Tommy’s brother—in-law, Frank Praught, who saw the Germans marching the soldiers away, and he noticed that Tommy was one of them. Frank thought that they would never see Tommy again, but the story had a better ending. Tommy was taken prisoner by the Germans, and instead of being killed, he was placed on a farm where he had to do strenuous work.

The days were long on this farm, and it was very cold in winter, and very hot in summer. The food was poor, and very scarce, but Tommy credits milk with his survival. As he milked the cows on this

farm, he would drink some of the milk.

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