P03236.230 Accession Number: P03236.230

Description

Outdoor portrait of Australian Prisoner of War (POW) 2728 Private (Pte) George Gribbon, 55th Battalion, from Woonona, NSW, in a POW camp at Stuttgart, Germany. Pte Gribbon enlisted at the age of 20 on 13 April 1915 and embarked for overseas on 9 August 1915 aboard HMAT Runic. After serving at Gallipoli, he went on to serve on the Western Front where he was wounded in the left shoulder and captured at Fleurbaix, France, on 20 July 1916. In a letter written by Pte Gribbon from POW Camp Stuttgart 2, Germany in July 1918 he described the working condition in the 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 he 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 278.

Details

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918

Events

• Battle of Fromelles

Tags

• Prisoners of war