Ernest Gammon – Royal Artillery, 72nd Field Regiment

Gunner Ernest Gammon – Royal Artillery, 72^nd Field Regiment

Birth and Family Background

Ernest Gammon and Elizabeth Jane Draper
marriage certificate
Parish Church of St Thomas, Swansea

Ernest Isaac Gammon was born in 1910 at Oystermouth. He was the son of Ernest Gammon and Elizabeth Jane Draper, who were married in 1906 at the Parish Church of St Thomas, Swansea.

1911 Census

The 1911 Census records the Gammon family living at 21 Queens Road, Mumbles. Ernest Gammon (26) was employed as a carpenter, while his wife Elizabeth Jane (25) managed the household. Their children were James Lloyd (3), Ernest Isaac (1), and Muriel, aged 11 days. Also present in the household was Elizabeth’s sister Annie Draper (17), who was employed as a dressmaker.

1921 Census

The 1921 Census records the family residing at 71 Woodville Road, Mumbles. Ernest Gammon (37) was employed as a carpenter with D. Jones, Contractor, Velindre, Morriston, while his wife Elizabeth (35) carried out household duties. Their children at this time were Ernest (11), Beryl (9), Daisy (7), and Clifford (4), all of whom were attending school.

Marriage

In 1929, Ernest Gammon married Daisy Irene Churchill.

Military Service, Captivity, and Death

Ernest Gammon served in the British Army as a Gunner with the Royal Artillery, 72^nd Field Regiment. During the Second World War he was captured and became a Prisoner of War, and was interned at Stalag XI-A Altengrabow, Germany.

Stalag XI-A Altengrabow was one of the largest German prisoner-of-war camps of the Second World War. Located near Altengrabow in Saxony-Anhalt, the camp had originally been a German military training area before being converted into a POW camp. It held tens of thousands of prisoners from many Allied nations, including British, Commonwealth, French, Belgian, Polish, Soviet, and later American servicemen. Prisoners were housed in overcrowded wooden barracks surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

Conditions at Altengrabow were harsh, particularly from 1942 onwards as Germany’s war situation deteriorated. Prisoners frequently suffered from severe food shortages and malnutrition, poor sanitation and inadequate medical care, exposure to cold, especially during winter, and overcrowding and disease, including dysentery, tuberculosis, and pneumonia.

Many prisoners, including British and Commonwealth servicemen, were assigned to Arbeitskommandos (forced labour detachments), working in agriculture, construction, factories, or railways, where conditions were often even worse than in the main camp.

Deaths at Stalag XI-A were common, particularly among prisoners weakened by illness, starvation, or exhaustion. Ernest Isaac Gammon died while in captivity on 18^th December 1943. His death reflects not only the hardships of imprisonment but also the severe strain placed on POWs held in Germany during the later years of the war.

Burial and Commemoration

Gunner Ernest Gammon is buried at the Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery, Germany, where those who died in captivity were later re-interred after the war and are formally commemorated.