Goodwin, Howard Kingsley Hill (Captain, b.1904 - d.1989)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of TX736 Captain Howard Kingsley Hill Goodwin, 2/7 Battalion, prisoner of war. Collection consists of 'Capt Goodwin's wartime log. A 'Wartime Log for British Prisoners', a was notebook given by the YMCA to prisoners of war. The log contains photographs and news clippings which have been glued in, plus the names of men in C and D Mess Colditz. There are also several other names and addresses, some of which appear to have been added after the war. In the front of the log is a pencil sketch of 'Howard "Our ole Man"' presumably drawn by a fellow prisoner. Loose in the log were a variety of news clippings, penciled notes, a German prisoner of war card written by Goodwin commenting on the camp (dated February 1945), three letters addressed to Captain Goodwin written by employees of Simpson Piccadilly (a retail store in London), and two others from friends. These letters appear to be written after his release.

In April 1941, the 2/7 Battalion was deployed from the Middle East to Greece to resist the anticipated German invasion. It substantially played a rearguard role as the Allied Forces retreated across the island of Crete to Sphakia, and as a result, the battalion was left behind and taken prisoner after the withdrawal of the last evacuation vessels on 1 June 1941.

Captain Goodwin spent the next nearly 4 years in a series of prisoner of war camps in Germany - Oflag X-C Lübeck between July and October 1941, Oflag VI-B Doessel–Warburg between October 1941 and August 1942, Oflag IX-A/Z Rotenburg/Fulda between August 1942 and January 1944, and finally Oflag IV-C Colditz Castle between January 1944 until repatriated by US Troops on 16 April 1945. Goodwin's prisoner of war number was SC3501.

Goodwin returned to Australia and discharged from the Army on 5 December 1946.