News-Info-Alerts

Re: A Lasting Friendship

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 01, 2002

"WARTIME FRIENDSHIP LEADS TO REUNION

A LASTING friendship begun in World War Two between four German prisoners of war and an Ingoe farmer led to a touching reunion this week.

Charlie Harrison was a youth of 17 when Sep Hümmert came to work at Sandywayheads, the Ingoe farm which has been in his family for centuries.

Together with three other men, Alois Fischer, Otto Waldscheck and Otto Prüsser, Herr Hümmert was one of the prisoners at a POW camp at Darras Hall who carried out farm work at Ingoe.

The lasting bond formed between Mr Harrison and the four Germans has led to the farmer visiting Germany on 12 different occasions and to his German friends returning the compliment to see the place where they spent the war.

And although Herr Hümmert passed away two years ago, the friendship was continued down through the generations this week with the arrival of his daughter Roswitha in Ingoe.

oswitha and her husband Ludwig Russ are spending a fortnight's holiday in Britain and were keen to hear Mr Harrison's stories about their father.

Mr Harrison said: "Every morning an army wagon picked up the prisoners from Darras Hall and dropped off two at Ponteland, three at Belsay, two or three at Stamfordham and three at Ingoe.

"They were dropped off at about 8.30am and picked up at about 5pm. They helped with the harvest and the hay raking.

"I was about 17 at the time and I had to be the translator between the Germans and my father.

"They couldn't understand what he was saying because he had such a broad Northumbrian accent."

Over the years, Mr Harrison's friendship with his German friends has not been without its problems. On a visit to East German Otto Waldscheck, Mr Harrison was ejected from the country after officials found he had stayed at his friend's home instead of in a hotel, as ordered.

However, like Roswitha and Ludwig, he agreed it was important to keep up the friendship.

"German POWs were treated very well over here and that was one of the good things to arise from the war. When I was working together with the Germans, we realised we were very, very similar." "