David Raymond Murphy - ex RAF - POW

[20driver]

I was talking to my sister in law about her father. His name was David Raymond Murphy, nickname Spud, born in Ireland. He was an RAF navigator in WWII and shot down. He was hidden by a Belgium family for about 6 months. He left their house and was picked up and sent to a POW camp where he spent the war. After the war he completed Med School @ Queens in Belfast and moved to Canada. Quite remarkably the mother of the house actually was able to communicate with Rays mother that Ray was in hiding. The family apparently still has the letters.
Like a great many vets he never talked much about his experiences and he passed on quite a while ago.
If there is any place likely to provide information or leads on getting more info on Ray , when he was shot down etc it is on here.
Thanks for any replies

[Rory57]

My starting point on a similar quest was this book. Lists bomber command POWs by name and gives date, aircraft, squadron, airfield etc.Footprints on the Sands of Time: RAF Bomber Command Prisoners of War in Germany 1939-45 Hardcover – 30 Jun 2003
by Oliver Clutton-Brock

The entry for Pilot Officer DR Murphy includes Lancaster JB650 / 12 Squadron, 27 January 1944.
76 years ago today!
Captured Tarbes 12 May 1944 Prison at Toulouse, Paris, Mainz, Weisbaden

[sewin1]

My late father ‘Hugh’ (Hubert) Rees was a POW at Stalag Luft I from December 1944 until liberation by the Soviet advance in May 1945. Like P/O Murphy, he spoke little of his wartime experiences in later life. However, I can provide some information relevant to this post:

i. we have two framed pencil sketches by Hugh of fellow POWs on our wall. One is of P/O Murphy, and I would be happy to send (email?) a copy if that can be arranged;

ii. in short notes he made at the time, the following entry appears for the day after liberation: ‘On the 2nd May [1945], …., Westy, "Spud" & I walked out to the "Flak School" [adjacent to the prison camp] - then deserted except for German civilian refugees. I picked up some souvenirs – helmet, belt, cap, wings, fur cap etc.’ Westy was F/O Douglas Cooper Westwood RNZAF (bomb aimer in my father’s crew) who shared a billet with Hugh. It is possible that P/O Murphy also shared the same billet, but there is no further reference to him in the notes, and no evidence of any post-war follow-up.

I hope this is of some interest.