Kenneth Albert COLE
Kenneth Cole as a prisoner of war at Lamsdorf Camp (Stalag VIII B), 1940.
Kenneth Cole was born at 88 Marlborough Road, Grandpont on 14 August 1916, the youngest of three children. His father William Cole had started work at the Post Office as a telegraph messenger at the age of thirteen, and had become a letter carrier (or postman) in 1897 when he was twenty. Kenneth’s mother was Kate (née Bolton), the daughter of a house-painter. William and Kate both came from Jericho; they were married in St Barnabas Church in 1905.
The couple lived initially in New Hinksey. Their first child Rowland was born in March 1906, but died soon afterwards. By the time their second child Leslie was born in October 1908 they had moved to 70 Marlborough Road, Grandpont; Leslie was baptised in St Matthew’s Church. Their third child Gwendoline was born at 88 Marlborough Road in late 1910, followed by Kenneth five years later. It appears that William did not fight in the First World War, probably because his job at the Post Office was a reserved occupation.
The family was still living at 88 Marlborough Road in 1929, but by the time of the 1939 register (taken on 29 September, four weeks after the outbreak of war) William and Kate had moved to a house called ‘Highmore’ at 59 Henley Avenue, near Iffley village. William had retired from the Post Office in 1937, after forty years’ service; he had risen to be an assistant inspector. Kenneth’s older brother Leslie had by now married and he and his wife Mabel were living in Rose Hill; Leslie worked as a milkman. Kenneth and Leslie’s sister Gwendoline was also married, living in Brighton.
Kenneth, meanwhile, had followed his father at the Post Office, and was working as a postman. On 2 May 1939, at the age of 22, he enlisted for four years with the 4th Battalion (Territorial Army) of the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry. He was a Private, service number 5384698. When war broke out only four months later, he and the rest of the battalion were immediately called up. They underwent intensive training during the autumn and winter of 1939/40 and, and were sent to Belgium and Northern France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in January 1940.
The Dunkirk evacuation started on 26 May 1940, and the 4th Battalion, together with a number of other units from various regiments, was ordered to provide defensive rearguard action in an attempt to delay the advance of the German forces towards Dunkirk. Every day that the advance could be held back meant that more British troops could be evacuated from the beaches. The 4th Battalion was defending the strategic town of Cassel. The town was quickly surrounded by the enemy and the order was given to withdraw. The withdrawal was effected by small groups leaving separately and seeking to get to the Dunkirk perimeter. The casualty rate was high and only four members of the battalion are recorded as having reached England. Some two hundred wounded soldiers were left in Cassel.
Kenneth was captured on 30 May 1940, which suggests that he was in one of the groups which got out of Cassel but was seized between the town and the Dunkirk perimeter. He was taken prisoner of war (PoW) and transported to the Lamsdorf Camp (Stalag VIII B, later Stalag 344) in Upper Silesia, near Opole, now in Poland (Polish name: Lambinowice). This was a major camp for Commonwealth prisoners, with a large hospital. According to the German camp records Kenneth was Protestant; a ‘briefträger’ (postman); born in 1916 in Grandpont, Oxford; 1m 57.5cm (5’2”) tall; and blond. On capture he was ‘gesund’ (healthy). His PoW number was 14969.
Kenneth was admitted to the camp hospital in early February 1941 and died on 6 February of diphtheria. He was 24. He was buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery, together with over 480 other men who died at the Lamsdorf Camp. The inscription on his gravestone says "A dearly loved son and brother. One is nearer God's heart in a garden".
Kenneth’s name is listed on the Oxford Post Office Second World War memorial, as well as on the memorial in St Matthew’s Church. His Post Office pension (to be paid to his family) was approved on 18 December 1944; in his will he left £326 to his father William. He is also commemorated on the Oxford City WWII Roll of Honour, which is in the Church of St Michael at the Northgate on Cornmarket.
William died in 1974, aged 96; Kate died in 1976, aged 91. They are buried together in Rose Hill Cemetery in Oxford.