New book tells true story of Dunstable soldier who escaped prisoner-of-war column
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A writer and researcher has unearthed the extraordinary story of a Dunstable soldier after finding an 80,000-word manuscript of his account of the Second World War in a cardboard box.
In 2019, David Wilkins bought the box of old notebooks at an auction, which happened to contain Private Raymond Bailey’s experience of the war, written in 1942.
Ray, the hero of the story, is a 21-year-old soldier from Dunstable who escaped from a prisoner-of-war column in northern France in 1940 and managed to make it all the way back to Britain.
David explained: “Everyone is familiar with the evacuation of 380,000 Allied troops at Dunkirk. But few know that 68,000 British soldiers never made it to those famous beaches and were trapped when France surrendered.
“Almost all these men were doomed to live out the war in German prisoner-of-war camps”.
By mid-December 1940, six months after his capture - and in time for Christmas - Ray was back home in Dunstable with his parents. Ray, who had worked as an apprentice at Vauxhall in Luton, wrote his story in his notebooks over the next few years,.
David said: “I gambled on a modest auction lot and suddenly found myself the owner of this fantastic and thrilling lost story. Ray is probably now the youngest Second World War soldier known to have written at such length of his experiences. His memoir may even be the earliest first-hand soldier’s account of Second World War to have been written at all. I could scarcely believe what I had found.”
David’s book, Blighty or Bust, includes Ray’s complete original account of his escape in his own words. Humanity is at the heart of the book, with Ray at times becoming overwhelmed by the kindness and bravery of ordinary French and Spanish people who helped him.
The book has been published by Tartaruga Books. Owner, Jim Pollard, said: “This is an incredible story - a genuine addition to Second World War history. No less incredible than Ray's great escape or David’s unearthing of his story, is that no well-known publisher felt able to bring Ray’s story to a wider readership. We feel privileged to have been able to do that. It’s a story that needs to be heard.”
David added introductory notes at the start of each chapter to explain the social and military context of Ray’s words. He said: “I tried to create a book in which younger people can read about the personal story, in the hope of enhancing their understanding of the war.
“It’s written by a 22-year-old, and it's written like a blog, because in ordinary day-to-day speech by someone that I think a lot of people can relate to.”
The editor added: “This young man made this effort to write this book while he was still in the army. He managed to write 80,000 words, he didn't do that for nothing. He wanted people to know about his experiences and I feel like I have done a duty to him.”