Nazi camp survivor friends reunited 60 years later
Published: June 2, 2006
TWO old soldiers who worked together in a Nazi salt mine more than 60 years ago have been reunited.
Roddy Macpherson and Alex Morgan had not seen each other since the end of World War II.
But as they chatted this week, it was clear their friendship had stood the test of time.
Like other prisoners of war, Alex and Roddy endured appalling conditions in the mine. They sweated through 12 hours of hard labour every day, with just one loaf of bread every four days to live on.
But they had each other. And as he hugged his old pal on Tuesday, Roddy, 88, said it was their friendship that helped them survive life at the notorious Stalag IXC camp.
He added: “The only way you could get through prison camp life was with the help and support of your mates and Alex was one of the strongest characters around.
“It’s been a long time, but we’re chatting like it was yesterday.”
Roddy and Alex were barely out of their teens when war broke out.
They never met on the battlefield but they were part of the heroic 152 Brigade whose job was to delay the German advance while troops retreated from Dunkirk. In June 1940, Alex and Roddy were deployed with the French 31st Infantry Division and the 2nd Armoured Division as they tried to re-take high ground at Abbeville, between Calais and Paris.
They were outnumbered by the Germans and the two men were captured within days of each other.
They were taken to Stalag IXC, at Bad Sulza, between Frankfurt and Berlin, and put to work, alongside hundreds of other troops, in Salt Mine 1401.
Roddy, who served with the 4th battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, said: “Alex worked below ground in the mines.
“I did construction work on the surface, so he had a far harder time than me.
“But he was a boxer and as tough as old boots. He’s hardly changed a bit.”
The two soldiers were separated a year before the war ended, when Roddy was repatriated to the UK because of ill health.
Alex finished the war in the camp.
The men were reunited at the Fairview Nursing Home, in Bannockburn, Stirlingshire, after Roddy’s daughter Margaret found Alex’s details on the internet.
She contacted his daughter Carol, who organised the emotional meeting. Relatives from as far afield as Wales gathered when the pals got together.
Alex, 87, who served with the 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, is from Cowie, near Stirling.
His wife Isa died in 2000 and he has been in the nursing home since having minor strokes two years ago.
His son, John, an ex-RAF engineer, said yesterday: “Dad was one of the fittest and strongest men in the camp and he boxed and played football for his unit there. Roddy was in the bunk next to him for four years.
“When the pair of them looked through the old pictures together, you could see the spark was still there.”
Despite the terrible conditions in the camp, the PoWs were determined not to let the Nazis get to them.
One way they kept their spirits up was by forming shinty teams.
Roddy said prisoners sent to collect firewood from the forest were always on the look-out for potential shinty sticks.
He said: “The right bit of wood was like gold dust because there were a couple of ex-carpenters in the camp who could carve it into a very good stick.”
Roddy, who has been married to Neilina, 93, for 60 years, had a tougher ride than most in Stalag IXC - thanks to a trick similar to the one Gordon Jackson’s character fell for in war movie The Great Escape.
The Germans hated Gaelic speakers because three Scots soldiers, who had escaped from a camp, used the language to convince every Nazi soldier they met that they were from Ukraine.
The men were allowed to continue their journey across Europe and made it back to the UK.
When Roddy, of Forfar, Angus, arrived at the camp, he was marched into a room and a German officer asked him in Gaelic how he was.
Without thinking, Roddy replied in his native tongue.
He said: “It was the oldest trick in the book. Before the war, the German officer had spent years salmon fishing in Stornoway and was fluent. They watched me very closely after that.”
Watching his dad reunited with Roddy this week, John said: “This meeting means the world to him.”
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