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“Tom McRae examines his late grandfather’s experience as a World War II Prisoner of War (POW) and its post-war consequences in 'Nobody's Heroes'.
Colin McRae, from the 14th Platoon of the 22nd Battalion, was one of nearly 2,000 New Zealand soldiers captured on the Mediterranean island of Crete in May 1941. They were unceremoniously taken as prisoners of war.
Tom McRae travels throughout New Zealand to meet a few of the small number of surviving POWs before heading overseas to visit the camps first-hand. He says, "one of the most horrendous aspects of their incarceration was the train journey, in cattle wagons, the POWs undertook from Thessaloniki to northern Europe. Many died along the way. Today the journey takes two days. Then, it took up to two weeks".
His grandfather began his four years behind wire in Poland at Lamsdorf prison camp. From there, he was taken to Valsov, a village in the Czech Republic, where POWs were forced to work as indentured labour.
Within eight weeks of repatriation to England at the end of the war, Colin McRae was married to a Welsh nurse and on his way to New Zealand. Sadly life wasn't always a bed of roses and Colin ended up in St Mary's Hospital at Hanmer Springs, along with hundreds of POWs who were treated for post-traumatic stress syndrome.
'Nobody's Heroes' sees Tom McRae's journey take him from his grandfather's home town in Napier, New Zealand, to England, Greece, Crete, The Czech Republic and Poland; he meets his grandfather's old platoon commander who describes the terror of battle and former POWs who describe the horror of captivity. He also visits the battle sites of Crete and the now deserted POW camp at Lamsdorf, Poland.” Adapted from Throng.co.nz, 16/05/2007
Interviews with members of his family, Colin’s platoon mates and other POWs: Tom McRae, Colin McRae (Colin’s Son), Lawrence McRae, Haddon Donald DSO, Barry Foster (Son of ex POW), Uwe-Horst Selent, Max Symons (ex POW), Alan Carson (ex POW), Matt Robinson (ex POW), George Coughlan (ex POW), Ernie Maddox (ex POW), Jack Greatbatch, Ania Wickiewicz,