~ Chapter Twenty-Eight ~
Capture, Liberation & Tragedy
As an Army Reservist, Sydney was required to rejoin The Buffs shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. In September of that year, he was among the many thousands of soldiers to be sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. At the fall of France in 1940, he was captured by the Germans near Dunkirk. For the rest of the War, he was interned in the Stalag 383 Prisoner of War Camp in Germany and used as forced labour in a nearby quarry.
Stalag 383 was situated in Hohenfels at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. To illustrate the hardships that Sydney must have endured there, this extract comes from Barbed Wire: Memories of Stalag 383, M.N. McKibbin’s acclaimed account of life inside the camp from 1943 onwards:
Stalag 383 was situated in Hohenfels at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. To illustrate the hardships that Sydney must have endured there, this extract comes from Barbed Wire: Memories of Stalag 383, M.N. McKibbin’s acclaimed account of life inside the camp from 1943 onwards:
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Ken recalls his Uncle Syd after he was liberated in 1945:
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Another relative of Sydney’s, granddaughter Tara Murray Phillips from Amarillo in Texas, also recalls the story told to her by her mother, Inez:
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But Sydney’s reunion with Sybille and Inez would be short-lived. After only two months, he left them to live with another woman, whose real name was Florence Mary Hayward, but who called herself Gloria. It appears that Sydney had already begun a relationship with Gloria before he went to France and had kept in touch with her while he was a POW.
Sybille is said to have been devastated, repeatedly declaring that she could not live without Sydney. At one point in March 1946, she managed to persuade Sydney to return home to discuss things with her. Wanting to play on his sympathies, she staged a suicide attempt just before he was due to arrive. Unfortunately, Sydney was late and Sybille perished, aged only thirty-six. This is how Inez described that awful event to Tara:
Sybille is said to have been devastated, repeatedly declaring that she could not live without Sydney. At one point in March 1946, she managed to persuade Sydney to return home to discuss things with her. Wanting to play on his sympathies, she staged a suicide attempt just before he was due to arrive. Unfortunately, Sydney was late and Sybille perished, aged only thirty-six. This is how Inez described that awful event to Tara:
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Seemingly undeterred by Sybille’s tragic end, Sydney returned to Gloria, with whom he would spend the best part of the next thirty years.