Lives in Cricket No 28 - Keith Carmody

67 there was in the place – it was just like Christmas there were so many happy faces. Talking didn’t cease till 2 hours after lights out’. His elation continued, even though he had a ‘full stomach and slept badly’. Now he had cigarettes to give to Norwegians, who’d been generous companions, and to trade with other inmates for varied food items or even for warmer clothing. Food parcels now arrived so often that on 26 March he had one ‘in reserve in case the balloon goes up’. There seemed good reason for optimism, even though his entry for the same date – ‘cartridge cases found in compound after recent air battles’ – showed how close the prisoners remained to the conflict. They may have watched with concern a fight over the camp that ended with a rare victory for a ‘goon jet’ over an American Flying Fortress. But much more typical was the Allied ascendancy revealed by a ‘very large formation of Forts and Libs’ bound, Keith accurately assumed, for Frankfurt-on-Oder – ‘a wonderful sight indeed’. Improved morale prompted greater concern with his appearance. It was ‘OFF WITH THE BEARD’ on 16 March and, four days later, the moustache as well – ‘a good job too.’ Meanwhile the Germans preserved the fundamentals of their PoW health regime. On 26 March ‘we all had our chest X-rays … as is the usual custom in German army Kriege camps once every 3 months.’ On the 30th he had a TAB (anti-typhoid fever) inoculation, not realising until the evening that it was Good Friday. After ten ‘quiet days’ spent either resting or using some of the spoils of his fifth and sixth Australian Red Cross parcels to exchange food items for a sweater and shirt from a Polish captain, rumours of movement were ‘confirmed by Goons’ on 10 April. When many prisoners left the next day, ‘300 of us stayed behind.’ But Keith’s ‘goodbye to Gil, separated for first time’ since their crash into the North Sea, proved premature. The exodus had coincided with the U.S. Army Air Force’s heaviest attack to date on Berlin. Keith couldn’t have known that 1,232 bombers had been involved, but his ‘Log’ noted ‘Thunderbolts dive bombing’, ‘Lightnings passing over the camp’ and the gradual return of all the recently departed. A few were sick but, with the ‘Goons providing transport for their luggage’, most ‘had a terrific time down the town – a regular 48’. By now, in mid-April, German hopes of surrendering to Americans, rather than Russians, gave them the incentive to treat the prisoners as well as they could. Improved weather coincided with optimism that release was Prisoner of War