Re: POW Mapped Out Nazi Camp Survival Plan

Date: June 15, 2004

"How PoW mapped out plan to survive in Nazi camp

By KYLIE MUNRO

Mr Simpson sits in front of the rug it took him six months to knit as a prisoner of war. The work can now be seen at the Bandiana Army museum.JIM Simpson wanted a memento from his days as a prisoner of war so he knitted one from lice-ridden strands of wool.

For 13 months the Nariel Valley resident scavenged any yarn he could find at the World War II Stalag IVB camp, at Muhlberg, Germany, where he was a prisoner for 19 months.

He borrowed strands, used worn out jumpers from fellow prisoners, and bought more wool for 50 cigarettes, then boiled, ravelled and knitted them into a masterpiece.

“Boiling the garments for a few minutes killed the lice and their eggs and it did not seem to hurt the wool very much,” Mr Simpson said.

The creation, a hand-knitted blanket emblazoned with a white map of Australia is on loan to the Army Museum at Bandiana for the next month.

“I just wanted a memento to take home with me and I knew I wasnt going to get one at that damn place so I made one,” Mr Simpson, 91, said.

The work, which took six months to knit, encapsulates Mr Simpsons capture and subsequent survival at the hands of the Nazis.

The wool used to weave the map came from Mr Simpsons navy pullover he was wearing at the time of his capture on October 9, 1943.

Shot down by a night fighter near Hanover, Mr Simpson was one of three of his eight member crew to survive the 6600m plunge to earth.

Getting the rug out after release in April, 1945, was a task.

Mr Simpson had to guard and protect it while dodging Russians before hitching a lift to a U.S. base.

Mr Simpson said he was proud to show the rug to todays generation.

© The Border Mail and its respective contributors, 2000"