Leslie Kenneth Smith was born on 10 December 1915. He lived in Wantage, Berkshire and worked as a baker in the family business.
He joined the RAF on 3 June 1940. Les’ RAF number was 1163777. He served as a cook and after initial training was posted to the Middle East on 25 April 1941.
He served in 520 and 235 Air Ministry Experimental Stations moving with the mobile radar unit from Alexandria to Tobruk. He was taken prisoner in Tobruk on 20 June 1942 and spent time in POW camps in Italy (Capua; Cordoncelli, Benevento; Sulmona; and Fossoli di Carpi) and then onto Stalag XVIIIC in Austria until liberation on 7 May 1945. He was POW No: 34090.
He returned to Wantage to work in the family bakery business, married Nesta Wheeler in 1948, with children in 1952 (Hazel) and 1954 (myself, Ann). Les died in 1958.
This letter to Les is from his friend Jock. I do not know of Jock’s full identity. It’s likely to have been sent in 1942 or 1943 in Italy while both were POWs, Jock being in hospital. The letter was written on very thin paper, was kept in a drawer at the family home in Wantage and discovered there in 2003.
