We’ll see if you feel the same way after you read it 😜

So roll on 2026 when I will finally be able to share the full story with you all!

I also wanted to include the voices of the children and grandchildren of POWs and was lucky enough to get a group of people to come forward and share their memories of what it was like living with former POWs.

This has been a very personal project for me as I was inspired by my great grandfather’s experiences as a POW and it was that which really planted the seeds of the idea to write a book from the perspective of the ordinary soldiers, sailors and airmen.

I was camped out every morning and evening at our dining table, usually hidden behind a pile of books and pages of notes. I hope I have managed to unearth a lot of previously unknown accounts and unseen photos to add to our understanding of the POW experience.

A few years of research followed and then then on Christmas Eve 2024 I signed a publishing contract with Barnthorn Publishing Limitedand the real hard work started. I’ve managed to juggle my full time teaching job and writing for ten months to write the book.

I was encouraged to write the book byAl Murray and James Holland after chatting about POWs on a WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk livestream after WHWF II. James was very helpful in explaining how I could write the book.

More from Captain Irwin, this time regarding Soviet POWs.

There is also sometimes accidental humour - such as this rather unfortunately named German.

Final update. Got his POW card today. Here is how he looked when he arrived in Germany.

It was an accidental discovery while I was looking for something else. The drawing touched a nerve - maybe because I have two girls - and then like Alice I followed the rabbit down its hole.