Palle Høybye 1980 - Philson   På dansk  Updated:  12 FEB 2012  Links Omkring PhilsonAround Philson

Palle Høybye 1980        From an interview with Palle Høybye in a newspaper 1980:
- and when they asked if anyone had seen the airman the answer was, "No, and if we had we would not tell about it."

Neither the police succeeded in finding him, but on the fourth day there was a telephone call from the railway station in Daugaard that they
had found an English airman sitting in the brake compartment of a goods van which was standing there.

Immediately we sent a car to take him to the inn and I had some words with him. - - -    to him to the place of honour while all were standing.

Just then it was announced that a German Major had come to fetch the prisoner. I went out and explained to him that we were interrogating
the prisoner who might have made sabotage. The Major saw the point and asked how long it might last. " - Well, a couple of hours."
We agreed that he could return at 14.00.

Then the meal started: Fried plaice and rice. When the worst hunger had been satisfied I held a small speech to Philson. I told him that we were occupied and that the Germans were in charge and that we, even if we hated to do it, had to hand him over to the Germans.

Then the burly Police Sergeant Hübschmann from Christiansfeld stood up and stated that he had been in World War I on the German side
and that he had been a prisoner of war in England - and now Philson had to rejoice that at least he had survived!

Now Philson asked me for paper and a pencil, and then he wrote a little speech that he asked me to translate to the assembly. I still have that little scrap of paper.

"Thank you, all my friends for your Godly kindness to me, my mother and father would indeed be happy if only they could know just how kind you are.
I cannot speak your tongue, but my heart is very tender to see how you love our cause. May God bless you all and keep you safe & happy until this
horrible war is over. J.A.S. Philson"

Then we stood up and sang "Der er et yndigt land" - the Danish national anthem.

Shortly after the German Major came and now there was no quarter. Outside the inn quite a number of people had gathered to attend Philson's departure in a German military vehicle. They waved to him and wished him good luck on his journey.

*
The war went on but at long last it ended. I often wondered how Philson had managed to be a prisoner for 4 years. Finally some day in 1948 a letter addressed to "The Bailiff in Daugaard" arrived. He forwarded it to me and so I learned that Philson was alive. He had come to Scotland, had married his fiancée and now he was studying theology at a university on Ile of Cumbrai in Scotland.

We corresponded for a number of years and in 1952 he visited us in Horsens with his brother-in-law. Later two of my daughters have worked as housemaids in his
vicarage in Dunblane in Scotland, and still later he has visited us in Hjørring.

He told us many exciting things about his life as a prisoner. Three times he escaped, but he was recaptured every time. At last he was far to the east and when the breakdown came and everybody fled for the Russians, he led a large number of refugees in a westerly direction.

He could never forget our gathering in Daugaard. It had helped him keeping the spirits up in all of his time in captivity.                  (Translated by Anders Straarup)