Newsroom 985-2131

AFTER 38 YEARS

By MARK HAMILTON

“PT.” RIGGS and
‘Basher’ Halls. sat
down for a beer in mid-
August, together for

the first time since
1945.

The last time before that
had been in Germany, when
both were prisoners of the
German army at Stalag VIII.

The scene of the reunion
was the Black Horse Hotel in
the English town of Deal.
From there, they headed
south, visiting the Dieppe
beaches where both had
landed and been taken
prisoner during the Second
World War.

It was afar more

‘pleasurable time for the two

than their first meeting
the prison camp they shared
for almost three years before
both escaped, separately, in
the closing days of the war.
Paul Riggs, who lives
quietly in North Vancouver
now, says the reunion with
his British comrade in chains
was an emotional event.
Riggs decided he was

Two war-prisoner

meet again

going to England for a visit
last fall. -In October, he
began tracking down some
of those he went to war with.

He sent a letter to the
Postmaster at Deal, ap-
pealing for his help. The
letter was posted and seen by
a nephew of Bert “Basher”
Halls. The connection was
made.

The two met on August 19
of this year in England,
almost 41 years to the day
after they landed on separate
beaches in the _ ill-fated
Dieppe raid, ‘Riggs as a
member of the |Queen’s Own
Cameron Highlanders and
Halls with the No. 3 Com-
mandos, then consideed
Britian’s finest fighting
force.

Both were captured in the
waning days of the Dieppe
raid. Both wound up in
Stalag VHI.

“We were the best of pals
through the dark days of
captivity,” Halls told an East
Kent newspaper reporter
that covered their reunion.

During the three years in
camp, they both suffered the
indignity of being chained
for 407 days in retaliation for

an Allied order that all
German prisoners of war be
tied up. Both worked on the
camp’s escape. committee,
despite the fact they were
unaware what each was
doing until their reunion last
month.

And both escaped as the
American-led Allied forces
pushed across Europe after
the D-Day landing.

Halls went first, eventually
joining the American Army
under General Patch for the
remainder of the war.

Riggs, who escaped on
Friday, April 13, 1945, fled
to health as he was flown
back to England for
hospitalization. He weighed
only 108 pounds at the time
of his escape.

The highlight of the
reunion for the two was their
trip to both Dieppe and
Dunkirk.

(Halls also was involved in
the Dunkirk evacuation
early in the war. AltifOugh
originally taken prisoner by
the Nazis, he managed to
overpower his guard and,
with three others, row back
across the English Channel

CONTINUED ON PAGE C3

DIEPPE landing - sur-
vivor Paul Riggs, who
escaped from a P.O.W.
camp, has returned from
a recent trip in Kent,
England, where he met
with ai fellow war-
escapee buddy. Here, he
holds up a picture of
himself, shortly after he
was discharged from a
London hospital after bis
escape.

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