Selected Biography

Pearson né Mallyson, Stanley Edward – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk on 17.9.1909.[1]  Adoptive Parents: Spencer Pearson of Boxted, Suffolk (Horsekeeper on Farm) and Mary Ann [née Cook].  Home: Cranfield Cottages, Long Melford (1911 to 1921), Little St Marys, Long Melford [1945].  Service Record: Stanley enlisted in 1929 as Gnr.791685 with the Royal Artillery and was posted to France as a driver with the British Expeditionary Force in 1939.  In May 1940 he was part of the rearguard action covering the evacuation of British and French forces from Dunkirk.   With the assistance of local members of the French Resistance he managed to evade capture for several years, until his eventual arrest by the Gestapo.  He was sentenced to 68 days of solitary confinement and sent to Arras Prison where he endured more than thirty rounds of interrogation, losing four teeth in the process.  Following this harrowing experience, he was sent first to Stalag VI-G at Duisdorf near Bonn. Then to Stalag 344, later renumbered as Stalag VIIIB at Lamsdorf [now Łambinowice in Poland].  In January the camp was hurriedly evacuated ahead of advancing Soviet troops and Gunner Pearson and thousands of his compatriots were herded west, arriving at Duberstadt in Lower Saxony in April, where in a matter of days the camp was liberated by the American 3^rd Army.[2]  Died: Braintree, Essex in 1981.[3]

Notes – [1] Birth registered as Mallyon, date of birth from the 1939 Register under Pearson.  [2] Long Melford Welcomes Prisoners of War [Suffolk and Essex Free Press 10.5.1945].  [3] His death is registered under his birth name of Mallyon.