Sergeant Thomas Holloway

Sergeant Thomas Holloway, R.A.F., of 11 Church row, Chislehurst, who has been a prisoner of war in Germany since May 1940, has written home to his mother in Chislehurst giving of how he and his new found friends spent Christmas Day in a German prison camp.

In his letter he said that they had a grand time on Christmas Eve decorating their hut and setting up a fine Christmas tree adorned with fairy lights, tinsel, and the usual decorations.

About 250 communicants attended a Communion Service on Christmas morning, and at 12:30 they has a light luncheon consisting of Christmas pudding and custard. 

“It was a most marvellous pudding,” he writes, “We just soaked some bread in water for a couple of hours, and then put in the mixture of raisins, plums, prunes, apple cores, figs, dates, and almost anything we could lay our hands on.  Then we steamed it for five hours, and one of my pals said it was ‘Just like mother makes it,’ though I’m not so sure about that.

We had a concert and band in the afternoon, and sang all the old songs together.  Then came the star event, the thing we had been waiting for – the seven o’clock Christmas dinner.

Although the festive turkey was missing and the punch bowl was conspicuous by its absence we contrived a seven-course dinner out of eight Red Cross parcels, two American, and two Canadian.  Believe me it was quite an attractive menu.”

Sergeant Holloway also sent two group photographs to his mother as evidence of his good health.