Bob Lyons

And recently picked this one up to compliment my junior officer visor cap.... Bob

More photos....

Well, after a long time, I have picked up a couple of fairly nice KM officer caps again, as I did have a fairly small collection some time way back when, and then tried to get out of collecting, and sold off the examples that I had then, but this one turned up locally, and I couldn't help myself.... (I will post the other two caps seperately). Bob

Yeah, a US based dealer, he has had that one up for sale for quite a while... Bob

No Paul, just seen a bit of wear, both are standard blue-grey issue types. Best wishes, and seasons greetings Bob

I also meant to add in my initial post, the soldier (airman) was probably captured in North Africa, as that is where the majority of the POW's were from, apart from the survivors of the Kormoran. (and a handful from Greece and Crete). Bob

and another photo, showing some of the old barracks foundations. I can post up some more photos if there is any interest, but sure would love to find out some more info on the dogtag if anyone can assist..... Best wishes Bob

The cell block is now just used to dump rubbish, here is a shot from a few years back on one of my visits....

a lot of the graffiti from the POW's survives to this day, this pic from ATB....

inside the block....

The old cell blocks still survive, here is a wartime view.....

and a little bit of colour just for the occasion.....

and how it looked a few years back on one of my visits to the area.....

A bit closer, the plain Iron Cross emblem on top is a recent addition by local historians......

Now sitting alone out in the Australian bush...... (ATB Photo)

Wartime photo of the Kormoran memorial.....

The memorial built by the HK Kormoran survivors still exists....

and today....

A couple more photos from the magazine (ATB #144), with a nice then & now comparison....

And a photo from a recent 'After The Battle' magazine, showing the front gate of the POW camp (ATB Nr. 144), the article was written by David Mitchell-Hill Green.

The tag by itself....

Hi all, I have a Luftwaffe Other Ranks Erkennungsmarke or dog tag, that was recently uncovered using a metal detector from the old Murchison POW camp (Camp 13) here in Victoria, the camp is about a two hour drive out of Melbourne, and the remains of the camp are still scattered about the old site. This particular tag is for a Luftwaffe soldier (probably an NCO, as officer's were kept nearby at Dhuringile), and the unit was II./StG 77, with the personal number of the individual being #30. I have been in contact with the German WASt., and all they could give me was that the man was still alive, was born in 1918, and had applied for a pension in 1980, I am still trying to find out if the records held here in Australia will reveal his name and details, the POW archives are held here in Melbourne, and I have requested a search using the dogtag, but so far nothing back, so I thought I would post it here, and any assistance on finding out the man's details would be greatly appreciated...... Photo of the tag, and a couple of POW camp tokens for the canteen, plus some recovered German military buttons, still retaining some of their wartime paint, along with an Italian wartime tunic button as well..... Bob

Hi Dan, Small world, I was a Sigs operator in the army for 20 years, and one of my tasks was as a teleprinter/keyboard operator, and I was once fairly nimble on the ol' keyboard too, but left the army about 21 years back, and have been involved in shipboard firefighting and light rescue since, so all typing skills I picked up with the army have just about all been relegated to the memory banks these days. (the old 'how good I used to be syndrome'). As an aside, I was also once up around 28 WPM on Morse code too, all of that is now also in the mostly forgotten part of the memory banks ! Best wishes from Australia, Cheers Bob

Very nice Shane ! Cheers Bob

Spot on, by the way Dan, I meant to type 'Concur', finger fault local I'm afraid !! Cheers Bob