GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY
Enjoying their new found freedom in Switzerland, left to right: Lt. Commander W. L. “Billie” Stephens, D.S.C., R.N.V.R., Captain P. R. “Pat” Reid, M.C., R.A.S.C., Flight Lieutenant H. D. “Hank” Wardle, M.C., R.C.A.F. and Major R. B. “Ronnie” Littledale, D.S.O., K.R.R.C.
Switzerland and beyond
Reid and Wardle had also made Switzerland the previous evening, thus contributing to a record “home run” tally for Colditz. But further adventures remained, the escapers having to continue their journey from the safety of the British Consulate in Berne to Spain, via France.
Yet in Stephens’ case, who was awarded a Bar to his D.S.C., that journey did not actually commence until the end of 1943, after a period of special service in Switzerland, where he no doubt assisted Air Commodore F. M. F. “Freddie” West, V.C., the British Air Attache and Head of British Air Intelligence in Berne, process the ever increasing numbers of British and Commonwealth escapers crossing the Swiss frontier.
In common with many fellow escapers, he was again imprisoned on crossing the Pyrenees into Spain, but using his by now well-honed guile, he offered his wrist watch to a guard for a telephone call to the British Embassy in Madrid and was smuggled out in the boot of a large American car to Gibraltar and from there by air to the U.K., where he landed on 11 July 1944.
His final wartime appointment was as the Naval Representative in the British Delegation to the Black Sea port of Odessa, to witness the highly controversial return of unwilling Cossack
P.O.Ws to the Soviets - an experience that left him deeply shocked.
Stephens received his D.S.C. and Bar from H.M. the King at a special investiture held in the Great Hall, Stormont in July 1945, on which same occasion his mother, Mrs. Lilian Stephens, was invested with the M.B.E. Then, at the end of hostilities, he returned to Switzerland to marry Chouchou de Meyer, whom he had met there during the War.
Colditz - The Return
Settling back in Northern Ireland, Stephens became a Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Co. Down, a Commissioner of Belfast Harbour and a Chairman of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, whilst also retaining his links with “Chariot” by way of his appointment as Naval President of the St. Nazaire Association. Moreover, he made a return trip to Colditz in 1978:
“I particularly wanted to show it to my wife but she didn’t like it any more than I did. There was a feeling of decay everywhere, it was very sad. But I will never go back again. Once was enough for me.”
“Billie” Stephens, a private and modest man, but full of charisma, died at his residence at Chateauneuf de Grasse, France, in August 1997, aged 85 years.
TO BE SOLD WITH THE FOLLOWING ORIGINAL DOCUMENTATION: (i) The official telegram to his father reporting Stephens as a confirmed P.O.W., stamped at Holyrood, Belfast, and dated 2 May 1942.
(ii) A strengthened-tissue escaper’s map, covering Germany and her borders, and quite likely used by Stephens in his escape from Colditz, or possibly his subsequent journey from Switzerland to Spain. (iii) His forged wartime Urlaubsfchein (leave pass) in the name of Jean Bardet, a French electrician being employed by the Germans, with swastika stamps and Leipzig issue dates for 12-13 October 1942, and related Dienstausweis (service pass), with portrait photograph, swastika stamps and Leipzig issue date for 28 March 1942, as forged at Colditz and used by him during his escape to Switzerland. (iv) A post card sent by Stephens to Lieutenant H. J. Higginson, R.N.V.R., at the British Legation, Lisbon, with Berne postmark for October 1942 (‘Having a grand holiday here with friends ... ’). (v) A forged Carte D’Identite in the name of Charles Meslin, from Grenoble, France, with portrait photograph, and French police stamp dated 14 October 1943, folding blue cover; and related Identite du Titulaire and Certificat de Travail, these as used during the final leg of his journey to Spain.
(vi) A studio portrait photograph, in uniform, wearing the riband of his D.S.C. and Bar. (vii) Assorted newspaper cuttings, wartime and later, including the recipient’s obituary notices in The Daily Telegraph and The Times. (viii) A copy of the typed manuscript of his wartime memoir, 78pp., a hitherto unpublished and important wartime memoir, not least in respect of the recipient’s accounts of the St. Nazaire raid and his Colditz escape. (ix) His mother’s M.B.E., Civil Division, type 2, breast badge, on Lady’s bow, in its Royal Mint case of issue.
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