A RUG KNITTED in a PRISONER OF WAR CAMP

I love Human Interest Stories

Housed in a Museum in a Town Called Corryong, in Australia, is a large hand knitted  Rug, knitted by an Australian during his internment  as a prisoner of war 

Jim O'Sullivan,tells his story 

''As a young man, after joining the Air Force, during the 2nd World War,our Lancaster Plane was shot down over Hanover.

5 of our crew died, 3  parachuted down , becoming uninvited guests of Hitller

I was a Prisoner of War from ( 1939 -1945)

My Mother had taught me to knit as a small child and I was always interested in art

Upon my  capture, I was told by other prisoners, that all woolen jumpers would be confiscated and sent to the Russian Front

To save my nice white woolen jumper, I pulled it apart and rewound it into skeins ( in the toilet), taking 20 minutes

During my years in prison I taught over 40 other prisoners to knit, mainly socks to keep themselves warm

My plan to knit my big Aussie Rug took lots of wool,other prisoners somehow managing to find ? from plain and colour garmits.They all had to be boiled as they were full of louse.

I drew the map of Australia,and knitted it in plain stitch, with the ranges in purl

It also features the islands, close to Australia, and our coat of arms

To make the knitting needles I used handles from pots, etc., and sharpened points on one end, rubbing back and forth for many hours on the concrete floor

 To the credit of the German Soldier,s my rug was not confiscated '

Jim as a handsome much older man in front of our AUSSIE TREASURE

He himself of course is an"' AUSSIE TREASUSE "