(CBS News) Thousands of British servicemen were captured during World War II. They endured life in German prison camps, but a few managed to send coded letters with vital military intelligence back home. The secret messages of one such prisoner are being revealed 70 years later.
The evacuation of British and Allied troops from Dunkirk early in World War II was either a military disaster or a strategic withdrawal. Winston Churchill called the rescue of more than 300,000 troops hemmed in by the Nazi advance a miracle. But in this case, it’s also the beginning of another story of ingenuity, heroism and mystery.
John Pryor was a naval officer aboard one of the ships which, under German bombardment, had already rescued one load of troops. When it went back for a second load, the ship ran aground and Pryor was captured. He spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp from which he wrote dozens of letters back to his family in England.
