Canadians as POWs in the Second World War on Findmypast

As many of us know, researching those that served Canadian and survived the Second War can be a bit of a challenge since many of the records are still safeguarded by privacy rules. So it is always a good day when one stumbles upon another online collection to peruse during these strange times of COVID-19 restrictions.

On Findmypast there is the "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945" record set that has 3,586,738 individual records in the set. That may seem like a lot but you need to keep in mind that those records are from The National Archives (TNA) in Kew, England (a few few other collections) and cover over 200 years of conflict that the United Kingdom, and other allies, has been involved in. The documents come from a number of agencies such as the Foreign Office (FO), Colonial Office (CO), War Office (WO), Admiralty (ADM) and Air Force (AIR). Wars covered include the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), Crimean War (1853-1856), Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), First World War (1914-1918), and the Second World War (1939-1945). Many of the records are digitized but some are transcription only.

However, I'm more interested in locating any records from the Second World War of Canadians found in that record set. The first step is to narrow down the years. For that I selected 1942 as the year, minus or plus 5 years¹.

Screen capture of the advanced search screen for the Prisoners of War 1715-1945 record set on Findmypast with 1942 -/+ 5 years filter.

That left me with 512,918 results to filter through. Keep in mind that there will be duplicates where the same person is mentioned in multiple documents. 

At this point I could type in the surname of someone that I know was a prisoner of war to see if a record in the set exists for them. However, in the research into my own family lines I haven't come across anyone that may have been a prisoner of war during the Second World War...the War of Independence undertaken by what became the United States of America, yes, but not the Second World War. Instead I decided to see what I could find for records that might have a mention of Canadians. For that I went to the Advance search page and typed "Canadian" (without the quotes) in the "Additional keywords" field. That gave me 2,295 results.

So just what do I see when I browse through the records?

There are are great many from the "Prisoners of war, Far East" subset of records from The National Archives. The description page at Findmypast states that one may find records from:

• Japanese index cards of Allied prisoners – includes name, nationality, place of capture, parents’ names, rank, unit and more.
• Lists of prisoners created by liberating armies during 1945.
• Regimental nominal rolls – includes name, rank, regiment and date.
• War diaries and testimonies of prisoners.
• Lists of those who died while imprisoned.
• Photographs of prison camps – includes over 45 photographs of prisoners in Japanese camps (WO 341/2045).
• Correspondence between the International Red Cross and the governments of belligerent nations.
• Lists of recommendations for honours and awards for service while imprisoned.

Here is an example of a card from The National Archives "WO 345 Japanese Index Cards of Allied POWs 1942-1947" collection and has been made available on Findmypast for a Parkman Huston, born 8 Sep 1896 in Canada².

"Prisoners Of War 1715-1945," database and images, Findmypast (www.findmypast.com : accessed 30 Sep 2020), Parkman Huston, born 1896, year 1941; citng The National Archives (Kew), WO 345/27, Japanese Index Cards of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees, Second World War, 1942-1945.

An abstract of this card can also be found in the Ancestry "UK, Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945" collection. However, if you are using Ancestry you will also need to have a Fold3 subscription since that is where the image has been placed in their "UK, Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945" collection.

Sometimes you will come across entries in the Findmypast database without an image. One example is the entry for F/O H. T. Huston of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 405th Squadron.

Screen capture from the Findmypast "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945" record set for F/O H T Huston of RCAF 405 Squadron, 1941.

Here Findmypast tells you that the information came from The National Archives WO 208/3316 report 1591. To find the file on The National Archives site you need to do a Discovery search combining the Archive reference of WO 208/3316 and the Report Number 1591 so that your search query is "WO 208/3316/1591".

Screen capture of The National Archives at Kew catalogue description of WO/208/3316/1591, Flying Officer H T Huston, service number J 13071, RCAF.

In this case the search results show that the record has not been digitized and one will have to visit The National Archives at Kew to see it. However, it did give a valuable piece of information that Findmypast didn't record...his service number "J 13071". With his name and service number you might be able to find him in the Operations Record Books for RCAF 405th Squadron.

Other times you might get lucky like I did with W/O G E Grandy of RCAF 407th Squadron where his details are recorded in WO 208/3324/2659. Normally you would have to pay or be connected to the TNA WiFi network to access the record. However, with COVID-19 restrictions in place The National Archives have generously opened up their digitized downloads to anyone with a free account on their site.

Extract from The National Archives at Kew of WO 208/3324/2659, Escape/Evasion Report for flight crew of Wellington Mk 14 from R.A.F. Wick piloted by F/O G. A Biddle, crashed 26 Set 1944.

What I received as a downloadable PDF was a three page document of the statement provided by the flight crew of the events from 26 Sep 1944 after they took off from R.A.F. Wick in their Wellington Mk 14 aircraft to when they finally returned to Scalloway, Shetland Islands on 12 Oct 1944 all the while evading capture by the German forces occupying Norway. The last page had a genealogical bonus since it listed their date of birth, post in the crew (wireless operator/air gunner in the case of W/O Grandy), peacetime profession, and their address back home. The tale of what happened to this crew, although told in the usual military clinical detachment, took my breath away as I read it.

There are even lists concerning prisoners in various P.O.W. camps in Germany.

"Prisoners Of War 1715-1945," database and images, Findmypast (www.findmypast.com : accessed 30 Sep 2020), Daniel Almon, S/Sgt, R-65355, arrivals from Stalag 2.D., 6 Apr 1944; citing The National Archives (Kew), AIR 40/276, Stalag 357 rolls Jan 1944-Mar 1945.

Of course, these records are not just for Canadians and you will find entries for other Allied nations including the UK, Australia, and even Americans.

Could you go to The National Archives site and search there for free? Yes you can but the value add of Findmypast is that they have name indexed the records so you don't have to know to look in the 6 Apr 1944 arrivals from Stalag 2.D to Lager K for your relative. Even if you do come across a record on TNA it might just point you to Findmypast to view the image.

If you are looking for more information as to what The National Archives (Kew) holds in respect to Prisoner of War files from the Second World War make sure you read their "British and Commonwealth prisoners of the Second World War and the Korean War" research guide.

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1. Why minus or plus five years? Findmypast only provides the option to filter the year by minus or plus 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40 years. Three years would be perfect and two years is not enough so five years it is.

2. There are a number of records for him found on the various genealogy sites including at least one document with a pre-Second World War picture.