My father's war experiences

My father, Robert Harding (2.2.1919-11.2.2010) was born in the state of Montana, USA, but lived most of his life in England.

He was a London policeman at the outbreak of war in September 1939 but later was trained as a World War II pilot with the Royal Air Force. I recently received a new photograph of him, dating from March 1942.

After some adventures, he ended up in Egypt but then a flying mission went wrong.

This accident led to my father becoming prisoner of war in Africa, Italy and Germany. He suffered a lot but survived. After the war he became a primary school head-teacher.

In 1999 he wrote a book entitled Copper Wire about his war experiences and it was published privately in a small quantity. A fully revised and enlarged new edition (182 pages), including many new illustrations, was professionally published by Chess Mail Ltd in 2002.

A small reprint was done later but is sold out. The main difference in the text is that the 2002 edition includes two appendices about soldiers prominent in the Stalag IVB camp.

Copper Wire is an amazing story of survival against the odds. It includes the stories of many of the unsung heroes who shared captivity with my father in the dark years of WW2, with a lot of detail about life in the famous German camp Stalag IVB.

You can read more about it here. Here is a review and a book extract.

Due to a faulty propeller, his plane crash-landed in the Libyan desert and the crew were lucky to survive. Yet worse was to come when they had to endure inhuman treatment at the hands of the enemy. Many died.

Eventually my father was moved to a camp in Germany where, as one of the senior British officers, he had a very good overview of life in the camp. Finally the camp was taken over by the Russians in May 1945 and a few weeks later my father finally got home.

Tim Harding, 23 April 2010.

My father, Robert Harding, soon after he got back to England in the summer of 1945.

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Picture of Bob with aircrew pals in 1942