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[Page 25]
At last came the night on which we were to attempt to regain our liberty. By a strange coincidence it was the anniversary of our being six months at Dusseldorf. We were all (thanks to our Red Cross parcels) in pretty fair condition and had managed to accumulate a fair supply of biscuits, chocolate and dried fruits on which we were to rely while on the track. I was not forgotten during my internment by my mates in France - for from money subscribed by them I had been kept in a plentiful supply of cigarettes, which, on this occasion, were of great consolation to us.
We six colonials (Pitts, the Australian, remaining behind) broke camp successfully, for during the past few months we had become proficient at that art. We had about an hour in which to get to the Station - having left the camp at 11 p. m, - our lady friends had given us the time and instructions how to pass through the Station and catch a train that left shortly after mid-night.
We were "working" in threes - Charles and two Canadians
- Choate,One Canadian and myself being the last party to leave the building. The first three caught the train alright and afterwards managed to reach Holland , but we were a few minutes behind time and on arriving at the Station found our train had gone. We then resolved on catching the first one to cross the Rhine next morning. We walked through the City, and it was surprising the amount of light and life there for that late hour. Passing several policemen who looked very authorative in their military uniform and swords we eventually found a spare allotment of ground in an outlying suburb, on which we slept or rather shivered for a few remaining hours of the night. At three o'clock we started to make our way to the station, we being anything but sanguinary as to our improvised civilian clothes passing censor in the daylight. However,
Choate (who was our spokesman) got the railway tickets alright and we passed through on to the platform to find that our train wouldn't start until,seven o'clock that morning. This entailed a very risky wait for our escape by this time would have been noticed and had the Corporal in charge been at all sharp we should have been stopped at the Station, however beyond being questioned by several civilians and a German Officer to whom we replied the equivalent to "I don't know"