The Adopted Prisoner

One of seven siblings, Les Law was born in London’s East End in the months following mankind’s greatest ever conflict. Twenty years later, he found himself preparing to take part in the next. Having been called up in 1939, he saw action briefly outside Tobruk in the North African desert, before being captured and taken to Italy. There, he endured a period of incarceration before escaping and joining a peasant family as a valued adopted son. Recaptured, he spent time in a work camp in Germany. As well as extending his geographical horizons, the experience of training, travel, action, captivity and liberation deepened his insights into himself and others whose lives were affected by the war. By the time he had returned to his native city, he had changed greatly, as had the world around him. He never forgot the humanity of those who had helped him during his liberty in the Abruzzi Mountains, and he vowed to return one day. In 1972, he visited the village again, for a moving reunion.