Willy Field was born Willy Hirschfeld in Bonn, Germany. The morning after Kristallnacht on the 10th of November 1938 he was arrested by the Gestapo and transported to Dachau concentration camp.

Willy arrived safely in England in May 1939 but at the outbreak of war in September 1939 became an enemy alien. At the end of June 1940 he was arrested and interned along with thousands of other former German refugees. A few days later he was transported to Australia on the infamous troopship Dunera. Conditions for the 9 week journey was likened to a “floating concentration camp”.

Willy arrived safely in England and worked on the land and in the city of London. At the outbreak of war in September 1939 he became an “enemy alien” and subject to various restrictions by the British Government.

In June 1940 he was arrested and interned, along with thousands of other former German refugees. In July 1940 he was transported to Australia on the infamous troopship Dunera with 2,000 other Jewish internees and 500 Nazi POWs.

Conditions for the 9 week journey were likened to a “floating concentration camp”.

“I wanted to give something back to Britain for saving my life.”

“But for all the risks, I never once regretted being part of the biggest invasion force ever to land in the Normandy beaches in June 1944 even though it brought personal losses.” – Willy Field

After a year in Australia, Willy returned to enlist in the British Army. He served in the Pioneer Corps until in 1943 he was able to transfer to a fighting regiment as a tank driver in the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars.

He fought for 11 months on the frontline, through France, Belgium and Holland, and finally into the invasion of Germany.

Three days after D-Day, Willy landed in France and saw front-line fighting through France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

He was the only survivor when his tank received a direct hit from a German 88mm gun in Holland during Operation Market Garden September 1944. The loss of his comrades on his tank affected him years later.

After recovery, he was crewed on another tank and crossed the border into Germany with the allied troops. Having been involved in the liberation of Hamburg, Willy drove his tank past Winston Churchill in the Victory Parade in Berlin in July 1945.

Of his family, only his twin sister Thea survived the Holocaust. The rest of the family perished. Their parents were transported on a train by the Nazis to Minsk in 1942 and murdered. Thea also came to England and served in the British forces in the ATS.