Picture of Bertram Rex Hall. War correspondence from the prisoner camp in Germany en some documents that proof that Bertram was believed to be missing. Also the letter of his mother with unbelief about her sons death.
Bertram Rex Hall served in the Great War and survived. He enlisted in Bristol in October 1915 and embarked with the British Expeditionary Force to France in January 1917 to join the 14th Gloucesters. In the autumn of 1917, the regiment was involved in action near Ypres, when as part of a gun-crew, he was taken prisoner on the 22nd October 1917. He was sent first to Dulmein POW camp, then Gustrow near Keil, and returned to England late 1918. Bertram Rex Hall was proud to have been a 'Glorious Gloucester' but he also cried when he 'took the Queen's Shilling'. His family knew that he had been a prisoner of war in Germany but he was reluctant to answer any questions. He only said that the drove a horse and cart for the mayor. He also had a few water colour postcards painted by a friend (sadly, lost over the years). He used a nose spray for many years and said to his family it was because he had been gassed. His daughter, Elizabeth Bostock, sensed not to ask many questions, especially about his bayonet hidden away in the roof of his garden shed. But on remembrance sunday, when the guns sounded the 2-minute silence, father and daughter stood quietly side by side. And every remembrance sunday since, his daughter thinks of him and his mates, wondering who they were and what became of them. After her parents died, Elizabeth Bostock treasured the belongings of her father saved by his mother Margaret Hall (nee Witcombe). War medals, a paybook, various letters, papers and photographs. There's also an album of photographs showing fellow prisoners of Bertram Rex Hall and the prison camp surroundings, together with some intriguing details. Bertram Rex Hall sent his mother a card dated 14.11.1917, reporting that he was a POW in Dulmein (the main transit camp for dispersing prisoners to work camps throughout Germany) but this was delayed, because an Army Records Office Letter (17.11.1917) was sent to her reporting him as missing, and his name appeared in the Bristol Evening Times & Echo Roll of Honour (7.12.1917). Family legend said his mother refused to believe he was dead - she said she would have known. She wrote to his C/O, and a pencilled reply (30.11.1917), from Major C.H. Baker, describes his attempts to find news of Dad's dissappearance. He wrote that Dad was notified as missing when the men came out of line, and then wounded, and the Major assumed he was in hospital. Major Baker said that some of the fellows pressed forward so boldly they were out of touch, and may have been taken prisoner, because...that is what happened to the section commander. Bertram wrote home every week, saying he was well, asking for news and food and personal items to be sent, and on 9.12.1917 comments that he has been at Dulmein for a month and described his capture. He and six other men had a machine gun and when the Germans attacked, five men fled and were shot as they ran. Dad and another man were left with the gun which had broken and were surrounded before they could repair it, so only two out of seven survived. On the 25th of september 1917 he wrote an optimistic Christmas Day Letter: This camp (Gustrow) is much the same as the one at Dulmain. We have a cinema and theatre, a comfortable hut with three blankets each a straw bed and pillow so we sleep very well. There are all nationalities here: English, French, Belgian, Russian, Roumanian and Italian. At some point, Bertram had an Ausweiskarte (undated) giving him permission to be out until 9.00 pm in the compound district of Gustrow. He could take pictures of the local residents and environs, of Hamburg and Kiel, particularly the harbour and German ships. With the letter and documents was a leather-covered album, containing the postcards mentioned above, and official photographs of my father, to send home, also some of his friends, the POW camp and cemetery. The photos of the camp cemetery show graves of different nationalities, French and Russian soldiers, tidy immaculate gravel pathways between. After the war Bertram went back to his family in Bristol, and a few years later he faced the Depression. He felt himself fortunate to obtain a position in the Ministry of Pensions, and later moved to the Inland Revenue Office at Nothing Hill Gate in London, where he met his wife. They married in 1935, and settles in a new house with all mod cons in what was then rural West London. A few months later, his daughter was born and right after that the two girls were evacuated to Wales because of the outbreak of the second world war. The wife of Bertram was however very unhappy and she decided to return to London. Bertram was not called for service again but he was an Air Raid Warden during the Blitz... The arrival of his first son in 1946, after the war finished, was a happier time all round. Bertram retired in 1966 and led a quiet life enjoying a pint, reading, gardening and watching cowboy films (never war movies), and playing with his grand sons. In 1971 he died in the hospital after a routine operation, seemingly a reation to the anaesthetic. It was unclear whether it was medical error, or revived sensitivity because of the gassing in WW1. Elizabeth Bostock (nee Hall): Dad was a good husband and loving father. He was proud of being a Bristolian, and we enjoyed many visits to relatives there, visiting the local landmarks. I recall happy times, helping him in the garden, summer afternoons watching cricket together, cycling in the countryside. He was inventive, making us toys - a cricket bat, scooter and a box on wheels. We sat in the garden shed, heating water on the Aladdin lamp for Bovril drinks and that is whn he spoke, briefly, of his times as a soldier, and we shared Remembrance Sunday Silences together. Althought I cannot now, 90 years on, find out much more, I will carry on remembering like my Dad.