Family travel to Poland in memory of Tom

Kyt · Mar 12, 2009

Family travel to Poland in memory of Tom (From Leigh Journal)

RELATIVES of an Atherton soldier who spent the greater part of the second world war confined to a German prison camp travelled to Poland to lay a memorial stone at Stalag XXA.

Funeral director Paul Dainton made a return trip to Thorn where his father, the late Tom Dainton, was a prisoner of war having been captured by the Germans six months after enlisting in the army.

Tom, a former Lee Street Baptist School pupil was one of Harry and Mariah Dainton’s six sons and was born in Mather Street, Atherton.

He was 23 when he married Phyllis Mary Haslam in 1934 and their son Raymond was just a few months old when LUT bus driver Tom enlisted at the end of October, 1939. The following March, as a Royal Army Service Corps driver, he was a part of the British Expeditionary Force that landed in France.

Within weeks he was promoted from Private to Lance-Corporal but on May 21, 1940 he was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner, finally returning to Britain in 1945.

But after enduring terrible prison camp conditions before he could sample freedom and home comforts again he had to survive an horrendous forced march of 800 miles from Poland to Germany. Many fellow prisoners died on the journey undertaken in freezing conditions and with little food or shelter from the elements.

Son Paul has chronicled his father’s life story after long and painstaking research.

He said: “Tom was finally re-united with his family on his repatriation to Britain in April 1945 but by this time the imprisonment had had its effect on his health. He was finally discharged on 31st October 1945 with a record of Exemplary Military Conduct.”

Sadly, after surviving as a POW, life still had its problems for Tom when in February 1949 his wife, Phyllis passed away leaving him to bring up his nine year old son Raymond.

Later, Tom married again, and with Mary had three more sons, Harry, Paul and David.

Tom went into mining before leaving the pits in the early sixties to work for David Brown tractor but financial rewards lured him back to mining but a coal face roof fall resulted in his early retirement when he received serious spinal injuries.

Tom and Mary spent many happy years at Devonshire Road, Atherton before Mary sadly died in 1981 and Tom spent his remaining years at Devonshire Place, Atherton. He died on December 23, 2001.

What was Stalag XXA is now part of a Polish army base which Paul Dainton has visited before.

He is back home after leading a party on an emotional return trip which gave everyone an insight into the terrible conditions Tom and fellow prisoners of war had to endure.

“It was 22 degrees below freezing and snowing,” said Paul, who took along a January 1, 2009 edition of the Journal to show his hosts what had been written about his father before they embarked on their Polish mission.

“They took us into the bowels of the camp so we could see where the prisoners were locked-up.

“The Polish Army welcomed us with open arms and we are grateful for their hospitality.

”I am going to go back again to reflect on my father’s time there when there is no schedule to adhere to.

“We would like to thank everyone who donated to the memorial headstone.”

Paul was joined on the Polish mission by his brother, Harry, and their sons Mark and Andrew, Tom’s 85 years-old brother, Joe and his son, Richard, plus Leigh man and WW2 veteran Eric Radcliffe who celebrated his 84th birthday while in Poland. Paul’s work colleague Steve Jamson completed the Stalag contingent.

They left mementoes at the Polish Army camp museum – a display of British Army badges, a miniature Grenadier Guards’ bearskin and a plaque inscribed in Tom’s memory.
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Antipodean Andy · Mar 12, 2009

He must have been a tough man - long-term POW and then working underground.

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Family travel to Poland in memory of Tom

Kyt Άρης

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