Wesley, Laurice

Name: Laurie WESLEY

Born 19 July 1922

Birthplace: England

Age at arrival in Buchenwald: 22

Died October 1969 in Birmingham, England, age 47

Service: Royal Air Force

Service ID: 1581817

Service Rank: Sergeant

Duties: Bombardier

Air Group: 207 Squadron

Airbase: Spilsby, Lincolnshire UK

Aircraft: Lancaster bomber ND556

Date shot down: 4 May 1944

Fate of crew: 2 KIA, 5 evaded, one of them captured (Wesley).

Evasion summary: Spent 8 weeks evading, met 2 USAAF airmen and McClanahan, taken to Paris by Desoubrie and Orsini.

Date captured: 4 July 1944

Capture summary: Taken to Hotel Picadilly, waited four days and questioned with fake Red Cross cards. Wesley and McClanahan were then taken by car to Gestapo HQ.

Boxcar Transport: 15-20 August 1944, in boxcar #1 or #2

Buchenwald ID: 78399

Notes on Buchenwald internment:

Transferred from Buchenwald to: Stalag Luft III

Kriege ID: 8122

Notes on SLIII internment:

Subsequent transfer to: Marlag und Mirlag Nord

Notes on internment: Given location of liberation, he must have been in the group of 3000 POWs marched out by SS on 2 April 1945.

Liberation: He reported being liberated in Trendorst, Lower Saxony, by the British Army on 2 May 1945. This is well to the SW from Lubek, but he is not on the list of POWs believed to have escaped during the march.

Repatriation from ETO:

Discharged:

Veteran status:

Notes on Post-War period: