BOB AND AUDREY ORMROD were a young British couple who met and married during WWII. Both served in uniform for their nation, he in the Royal Air Force and she in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS).
They would be separated for much of the war, due to Bob's pilot training in the United States under the Arnold Scheme, and again after his return to the UK, when his Halifax bomber was shot down over Picardy on the night of February 24th, 1944, on only his second operation with 578 Squadron, based at RAF Burn near Pontefract.
He made a parachute descent and was sheltered for a time by members of the French Resistance, but he was finally apprehended and became a prisoner of war.
He was imprisoned at Brussels' St-Gilles Prison and afterwards at Upper Silesia's Stalag Luft VII Bankau (now in Poland). To avoid being liberated by the oncoming Russians, he was forced to undergo the hardships of a long forced march in the harsh winter months of early 1945, eventually arriving at Stalag Luft IIIa, Luckenwalde, where he was liberated some time later.
Throughout this time, Bob and Audrey exchanged letters, including many that did not reach him; this correspondence, which has been compiled, edited, and annotated by their son David, serves as the foundation for this book.