Family of World War Two Veteran Uncovers Cousin’s POW History Following Chance Cairo Encounter

After 104 years of living, World War Two veteran Percy Chafer from London had few novel experiences. However, the fate of his cousin, Fred Stredder, after their unexpected meeting in an Egyptian cafe during the war, had always remained a mystery. Mr. Chafer and his family eventually learned more about Fred’s time as a prisoner of war, thanks to records found at The National Archives. Now, on Remembrance Sunday, his family hopes their experience will encourage others to engage in conversations and share their own stories, ensuring these memories are never lost. The family’s journey into the past commenced when Percy, a former gunner from Pimlico in central London, recounted his story of landing on Sword Beach with the 7th Armoured Division of the British Army. This narrative prompted his cousin’s daughter, Jacqueline, to realize how little she knew about her own father. All she knew was that Fred had been a prisoner of war, escaped, and was subsequently recaptured, leading BBC Breakfast to take them both to the archives for further investigation. When Fred and Percy departed London for the war, they believed they might never see each other again. Yet, one photograph became legendary in Percy’s family. It depicted Percy and Fred’s profiles, superimposed on the pyramids of Cairo, hinting at an incredible story Percy told of a chance meeting when he was a Desert Rat—a group of British soldiers who helped defeat the Germans in North Africa during the war. “We were sitting outside, and one of our comrades made a remark that there was a man looking at me, and I looked over and thought I didn’t know him and couldn’t recognise who he was,” Percy said. “And then he walked towards me, and the very words he said to me were, ‘Are you Percy Chafer?’ So I said ‘yes’, and he replied, ‘I’m your cousin Fred’, which really took me aback.” He added, “I thought, well, I’ve come all this way, and I’ve got to meet my cousin – found him in Cairo of all places!” More than 2,000 miles from home, the cousins encountered each other briefly before going their separate ways. Simply discussing the encounter revealed a new aspect of their stories to Jacqueline, who stated: “I didn’t I didn’t know you two met in Cairo; that was amazing.” Subsequently, Percy received the news he had hoped to avoid hearing. “We went back up the line, and the next thing I knew was my mum had written to me saying that Freddie was missing,” he recounted. Upon finding a white card with a fingerprint, Jacqueline read it and explained: “It’s a card that gives all the information about my dad and where he was held as a prisoner of war, finally in Lamsdorf, which is on the border of Germany and Poland.” She continued, “It gives details of the dates that he was captured, of his army number, his prisoner of war number… it’s even got his thumbprint there. Oh, that is amazing!” That thumbprint, recorded at Stalag 8b, inspired Jacqueline to seek more answers in a Facebook group for relatives of prisoners of war. Within that group, she was given a second document, which indicated her father had previously been held in Camp 70 on the east coast of Italy. For Jacqueline, this discovery illuminated another story Fred had chosen to share with her. “He said he’d escaped with a friend called Stephen. They escaped, and they disguised themselves as Italian fishermen. “They had their ears pierced and were probably quite tanned from their time in Egypt, where he was, and they escaped.” Despite his daring and disguised escape, Fred was eventually recaptured. Dates on other documents suggest Fred may have participated in the brutal Long March towards the end of the war, during which prisoners were forced to leave their camps without provisions and walk across war-torn Europe in one of the harshest winters on record. Jacqueline’s mother, Sally, informed her that when Fred returned home, he had lost eight stone, which Percy estimated to be half of his cousin’s body weight. Percy noted that it was common decades ago not to discuss the trauma of war, but he told Jacqueline about Fred after his return: “He was very quiet, and usually your dad was very bouncy and laughable; would have a good laugh, but that had all gone.” Seeing her dad’s thumbprint helped Jacqueline understand Fred’s journey from the soldier he was to the father she knew. “It answers a lot of questions now. He was fun and a barrel of laughs – that wasn’t the dad I knew,” she said. “He was very solo. He drove for a long time in a lorry, and I think he was with his own thoughts a lot.” Fred died in 1993, and the day Jacqueline and Percy visited the archives would have been his birthday. Jacqueline stated that if her father were still alive, he would be “very proud of Percy, no doubt about it, the same as I am,” and proud that his own story was shared, too. Percy added that by sharing the stories of those who fought, “it keeps things alive doesn’t it… never forget, never forget them.” Percy passed away peacefully at home on 16 October, weeks before his 105th birthday; however, his and his cousin’s stories will endure.