Thanks, Ivonne, and, Ed; the person holding the cat in the picture was my late father. He was captured on Crete when it surrendered to the German army and spent the rest of the war in a POW work camp in Silesia until 1945. That was after being orphaned in the 1918 flu pandemic and spending his childhood in children's homes. Still, he got a cruise c/o the British army - visiting South Africa (I think they must have had a stop off for provisions), Egypt and then Crete; as a motorcycle despatch rider he got to do some exploring, with an unauthorised trip to the pyramids (not many tourists in those days), and travelling between UK and ANZAC units in Crete. (My first visit to Crete was with my parents as, before he was captured, he enjoyed his time there and wanted to visit again; I think he was a bit disappointed with the tourist developments.) Things looked up for him when he met my mother after the war and, as you say Ed, living standards improved in many ways.
Michael Ixer ● 1779d