Ion Ferguson

Ion Ferguson with RAF 30 Squadron, Greece 1941

Ion Ferguson Royal Army Medical Corps (1913-1990) was an Irish volunteer for the British army who escaped from Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, during the Second World War.

Ferguson was captured by the Germans in Greece in 1941 and held as a POW until 1945. He was moved to Colditz Castle after protesting to the German authorities about the treatment of prisoners. According to Punch magazine, "Dr. Ferguson is a typical Irish rebel who kicked against the authority of senior officers until becoming a P.O.W., when he would not allow the Germans to ill-treat anyone without voluble protest. His intransigence landed him in Colditz..."[1]

Whilst incarcerated in Colditz in a ploy to get the attention of the German authorities, Ferguson wrote a letter to an Irish friend, the son of Éamon de Valera, the Irish Taoiseach, in which he called for Ireland to join the war on the Allies' side. As intended, the letter was stopped by the German censors but his wish to be moved to another prison camp was granted and he was moved to Stalag IV-D. In Stalag IV-D, he coached two RAF prisoners to convincingly simulate schizophrenia, who were consequently repatriated, while waiting for his own repatriation to Britain the same way.[2]

Ferguson is described by the Lancashire Telegraph as a 'brave, no-nonsense Irish doctor'.[3]

Ferguson wrote a biography of his wartime experiences in Doctor at War (1957).

Bibliography

  • Doctor at War, Panther Books, (1957)

References

  1. ↑ Punch, Volume 225, Page 309, 1955
  2. ↑ Haygood, Tamara Miner. "Malingering and Escape: Anglo-American Prisoners of War in World War II Europe" (PDF). War, Literature & the Arts. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Anne Wynne-Jones, Fascinating life of doctor, Lancashire Telegraph, 16 August 2011
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