Looking for information on my grandfather, Corporal James Stanley Head, OBLI

I am looking into any information on my paternal grandfather, the details that I have are below - would really like to know how I can obtain his liberation questionnaire (if he completed one) and details of his release, e.g. did he complete the Long March as many others did? His medals, photographs, and any documents were lost due to water damage/disposal around the nineties, he died around 2003 in his early 90's.

Name: James Stanley Head.
Date of Birth: 31/1/1912.
Place of Birth: Reading.
Service: British Army.
Rank: Corporal.
Regiment/Unit/Squadron: Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
Service Number: 5333146.
Date of Capture: 27 May 1940.
Theatre of Capture: Ypres.
Camp Name/Number: Stalag XXA Thorn.
PoW number: 11782.

My understanding, from the research I have managed so far, is that he was Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry 1st Battalion and that he was captured during the Battle of the Ypres-Comines Canal. It states he was sent to Stalag XXA Thorn but I know he was in Stalag XXB as his name appears on a POW roll call.

I believe his campaign medals were: War Medal 1939-1945 and the 1939-1945 Star (for his participation in Ypres)

Any information much appreciated!

Dwayne Head

 

Find my past has him Posted Missing on casualty list 235, 28/5/40. later list has him Confirmed as pow. As you say he is listed as POW No. 11782, camp 20B. Liberated 1945.

 

Dwayne,

Welcome aboard, there are members here who focus on May 1940, POWs, the Long March and more.

There are many threads on the Ypres-Comines battle, which can be identify using the forum search function. As you have used tags click on each and see what there is. tags are added by the author of the opening post, not after so you may find more threads using what follows. For more complicated searches it is best to use: "subject / name etc" + "ww2talk.com".

His regiment can be searched in the abbreviation too OXBLI.

Your grandfather's name and service number are not found here, except for your post.

It may be worth checking for the sources cited and footnotes, although on a quick look not much on May 1940: Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry - Wikipedia Plus their regimental museum: Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum – Conflict & County

 

Thanks David

 

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense - barely left Reading after the war, I imagine it would have been the same before he enlisted

 

After some further research I have found that he did indeed enlist in the Royal Berkshire Regiment in 1938, served as Batman, then transferred to OBLI 1st Btn. It seems he was captured fighting the rearguard action to allow the evacuation at Dunkirk, he served 5 years and was liberated in 1945 (I assume he did the long march as others from the same camp have detailed?), to my surprise (I assumed he left service following the war and my dad never mentioned anything) he remained in the regiment as Corporal until he was discharged in 1957 when he turned 45 - now I need to discover what he was up to in the post war years