From Devon to Hamm

I remember in ca. 1944 hearing mention of allied air-raids on the railway line at Hamm in Germany. And for some reason it stuck in my memory.
In 1968 I met Ulrich Kayser of Braunfels and many years later we were talking about what his mother did during the war. His father had sometimes to go to conferences and his mother would take to the station (at Hamm) and meet him when he returned. Sometimes she had to spend the night in the shelters at Hamm because it was not safe to be out in the streets during to air-raids.
Ulrich also told me stories of his mother such when a long line of Russian prisoners were marching through their town (Wickede) and she decided they looked hungry and could do with some soup which she duly provided.
This drew the attention of the local Gauleiter who caused her to be arrested. But when her husband came home and found what had happened, he went to the Gauleiter and she was freed. (Herr Kayser senior had beenearlier the employer of the Gauleiter.)
In 1944 I was temporarily in Devon. I now live in Winterbourne.
In 1944 the Kaysers lived in Wickede. After the war they retired to Braunfels. Ulrich was born in 1944. I was age 8 in 1944.

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