Morschel, John Robert Gordon (Flight Lieutenant, b.1920 - d.?)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of 422627 Flight Lieutenant John Robert Gordon Morschel, 630 Squadron RAAF. The collection consists of a wartime log describing being shot down, hiding for three days in Caen, capture and interrogation and transfer to Stalag Luft III Sagan. He describes camp conditions, sport and recreation, food, administration. The log continues with detailed description of forced marches, air raids, Allied and Russian advances, attitude of Germans (includes copy of account of his opinion of Germans written 28 April 1945).

Flight Lieutenant Morschel was flying in 'Q for Queenie' with 630 Squadron on 6 June 1944 for the D-Day assault. Before take off he remarked to another crew member, 'Looks a bit grim this 2,000 feet business'. All was going to plan, the flares were sighted and they were on course, when there was quite a loud 'umph' and the aircraft lurched. They had been hit, and in the rear of the plane a fire was rapidly spreading. Just before the lights went out John records that he was thinking, 'This is it old chap'. He managed to locate his parachute and bail out of the aircraft. He was also fortunate to land in a wheat field, missing the nearby railway line and telephone lines. After spending three days wandering the French countryside Morschel was captured by German soldiers. He spent the rest of the war in the prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III.

The log was not written in a chronological order, with the author leaving spaces in the log to fill in later. This has resulted in a physically disjointed narrative.