P03236.035 Accession Number: P03236.035

Description

Outdoor portrait of Prisoners of War (POW) at Stuttgart POW camp, Germany dated 1 February 1918. Identified third from left, is 2728 Private (Pte) George Gribbon, 55th Battalion, from Woonana, NSW. Pte Gribbon enlisted at the age of 20 on 13 April 1915 and embarked for overseas on 9 August 1915 aboard HMAT Runic. During fighting at Fleurbaix, France, he was in the machine gun section and had volunteered to throw bombs when at 1am on the morning of 20 July 1916, he stood up and was shot through the left lung and, as he swung around, shot again under the shoulder. His comrades were forced to retire and Pte Gribbons was left in No Man's Land, believed dead. He survived, was captured and held as a POW in Germany. In a letter written by Pte Gribbon in July 1918 he described the working condition in the POW camp as follows: "It is terrible, we have to work from 5.30 to 7 and 8 o'clock at night. In the dept we have to work from 7 to 6 and attend a parade at 9 o'clock at night. This is no pleasure - it is forbidden for a group to assemble together for a talk and the last few months I have not been in the best of health. My lungs are very sore and my feet so bad I can scarcely walk." Pte Gribbon was repatriated to England on 19 December 1918 and arrived back in Australia on 1 June 1919. One of a series of over 400 photographs sent by Australian POWs in German camps to Miss M. E. Chomley, Secretary, Prisoners Department, Australian-British Red Cross Society, London. Original album housed in AWM Research Centre at RC00864, Album image number 50.

Details

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918

Events

• Battle of Fromelles

Tags

• Prisoners of war