0:00:10 > 0:00:12LIFT BELL RINGS
0:00:12 > 0:00:17It's Saturday, and Welshman Ron Jones has come to watch the footie.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26He may seem like an ordinary senior citizen,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29but he's a man with a remarkable past.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33A few years shy of his 100th birthday,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36he's going to relive an extraordinary love story,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39set in one of history's darkest chapters.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46This is Ron's tale of survival in a place that's become synonymous
0:00:46 > 0:00:50with hatred and death on an industrial scale.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00The smell was terrible. Sickly, sweet smell.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04- Could you imagine those final moments?- I know, exactly.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10When he shot him, he looked at me and he said, "You're next."
0:01:10 > 0:01:12We were all frightened to death.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14You're bringing back memories now!
0:01:14 > 0:01:16PROJECTOR WHIRRS
0:01:17 > 0:01:20SHOUTING AND CHEERING
0:01:22 > 0:01:24'A former footballer himself,
0:01:24 > 0:01:29'97-year-old Ron is Newport County's oldest fan.'
0:01:29 > 0:01:32- Both our goalkeepers are injured. - I know!
0:01:32 > 0:01:35So they've signed him for a month to us.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37- And if he gets injured, you're up? - RON LAUGHS
0:01:37 > 0:01:39- You brought your boots, I hope?- Yeah! Ha-ha!
0:01:39 > 0:01:42- Did Gwladys ever used to come to the football with you?- No.- No?- No.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45- You couldn't persuade her? - No, she wasn't interested.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48So this was always your thing? Your other love?
0:01:48 > 0:01:49RON LAUGHS
0:01:49 > 0:01:52MUSIC: "Love Is The Sweetest Thing"
0:01:52 > 0:01:53Come on, Ref!
0:01:55 > 0:01:59'Ron's lived in Bassaleg, on the outskirts of Newport, all his life.'
0:01:59 > 0:02:03- Oh, that was when we were courting. - Weren't you a good looking couple?
0:02:03 > 0:02:06- RON LAUGHS - Fantastic. You look great in this.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09I met her when she came out of Girl Guides,
0:02:09 > 0:02:13- when she was 16 and I was 15. - Oh, really?
0:02:13 > 0:02:17What was it about Gwladys that really attracted you to her, do you think?
0:02:17 > 0:02:20I don't know. Just... I think it was love at first sight.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23- Just something caught your eye?- Oh, yeah, I fell for her straightaway.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28And then, we realised that... we felt a lot for one another.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Had you had many girlfriends? Was Gwladys the sort of...?
0:02:30 > 0:02:33- No.- ..the first one you took to? - She was the only one I've ever had.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35- No, I've never had anybody else. - Wow.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38- No.- There you are in your morning suit.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42She was 20...22 then. And I was 21.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Wow. So this is the summer of 1938?
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Yeah, 1938. Oh, God, she was gorgeous!
0:02:48 > 0:02:51I loved Gwladys from... right from the day I met her.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53CHEERING
0:02:53 > 0:02:55CROWD REPEAT: Sieg heil!
0:03:00 > 0:03:04For the Newport lovebirds, married bliss was short-lived.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Nazi Germany was spreading its wings.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09SHOUTING IN GERMAN
0:03:09 > 0:03:11GUNFIRE
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Ron was called up to fight with the Welsh Regiment,
0:03:15 > 0:03:19but he was captured in the Middle East, becoming a prisoner of war.
0:03:20 > 0:03:2570 years on, Ron's returning to the Polish prison camp
0:03:25 > 0:03:31where he was held by the Germans, 1,000 miles from home...and Gwladys.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37'They put us 40 in a truck, cattle trucks,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40'and travelled all over Germany then.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44'We were in there for four or five days.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49'We were covered in lice and...we were in a bit of a shocking state.'
0:03:49 > 0:03:54You couldn't lie down. We just stood up, sort of shouldering one another,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and then, of course, we were using one corner for a latrine.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00And it was pretty bad, believe me.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07'With 300 other captured British soldiers,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10'Ron arrived at a place he'd never heard of before...
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'Auschwitz.'
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Ron, when you arrived in Auschwitz, what did you notice?
0:04:17 > 0:04:19We saw all this big barbed wire.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24And men apparently in pyjamas digging trenches and all.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27I said to one of the guards, like, "Who the heck are they?"
0:04:27 > 0:04:31He said, "Jews!" like us always should have known.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32I mean, we didn't realise.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35We didn't know they were persecuting the Jews.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37But it didn't take us long to find out.
0:04:37 > 0:04:43The first thing that we noticed was a peculiar smell, but, er, I mean,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47I didn't register it, I didn't register what the smell was.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Until about four, five days after,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and I was talking to the Poles there.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55We thought they were pulling our legs, like, you know.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58And when you realised it was true, the shock you must have felt...
0:04:58 > 0:05:00- Terrible shock! - ..when you realised this was...
0:05:00 > 0:05:03- We didn't think that people could do things like that.- Yeah.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07And if the wind was in your direction, the smell was...
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Well, it turned you off your food.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13The smell was terrible, a sickly, sweet smell. Terrible.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15I can smell it now.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Downwind of the infamous crematoriums,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Ron was interned at Camp E715.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31From there, British prisoners were forced to work
0:05:31 > 0:05:34in a factory owned by IG Farben.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36'We've come to the site of Ron's old camp
0:05:36 > 0:05:39'with Dr Setkiewicz of the Auschwitz Museum.'
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Peter, how would things have been laid out?
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Where would everything have been?
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Er, so the... the road was right here.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51There's an aerial picture taken by the Allies during the war.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54The camp for British PoWs right here.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58And about 300-400 metres this direction,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02it was the camp for the Auschwitz inmates, for Jewish
0:06:02 > 0:06:05and other prisoners of the concentration camp Auschwitz III.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08- That was very close by, then? - Yeah, yeah.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11The Jews from there then worked in the works with us,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13or alongside us.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17And so, the factory we're talking about, where you worked, IG Farben,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20- is right there, it's a huge site. - Yeah.- In front of us.- Yeah.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Yeah, about half of the buildings physical here,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29they're still original, they were built during the war by IG Farben.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37Infamous for manufacturing deadly Zyklon B, used in Nazi gas chambers,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41IG Farben was a chemical industry conglomerate.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Their massive synthetic rubber and fuel plant
0:06:44 > 0:06:45was being built at Auschwitz,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49using the plentiful supply of Jewish slave labour.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52It's a little-known fact that British prisoners of war
0:06:52 > 0:06:56were also forced to work there, making aircraft fuel.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01- Were you a good worker for the Germans?- No, we didn't...
0:07:01 > 0:07:05We didn't like working. As a matter of fact, when we came here,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09- we argued about it was, er, working for the war effort.- Yeah.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12And Geneva Conventions wouldn't allow it.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16So, er, Charlie went in to see the Feldjager,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and he put his Luger on the table.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22"That's my Geneva Conventions," he said.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24- So we had no option but to work.- Wow.
0:07:27 > 0:07:34They had these... It was a big cylinder of about 60-70 foot high.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39We had to go up on the top and, one day, Corporal Reynolds was with me.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42They asked him to go up and change the pipes over
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and he kept making excuses, genuine excuses mind,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48that if he went up there, he didn't like heights,
0:07:48 > 0:07:52he'd fall off and, don't forget, it was very cold and icy and he said
0:07:52 > 0:07:57he didn't have quite the gloves and the clobber to go up there.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00In the end, Meister Bieber, who was in charge of us,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02called a guard over.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05"Are you going up?" like, and Reynolds kept arguing.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07In the end, he shot him.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13He looked at me and he said, "You're next!"
0:08:13 > 0:08:16You should've seen the way I went up there!
0:08:16 > 0:08:19I went up there like a monkey. A bit quick.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22We were all frightened to death and shook, you know.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25It went right through the camp.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27I'd never experienced anything like that.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Ron, what is it like to be back here?
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Oh... Nostalgic.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Bitter memories.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41- I've got a lump in my throat half my time.- Yeah.- Really concerned.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47You know... Very unpleasant at the moment.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50You've seen things you can't unsee, haven't you?
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Yes, it's in your mind's eye, isn't it? You know.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56I can remember it as... as plain as anything.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Unlike the Jews at Auschwitz, who were imprisoned by the SS,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07British soldiers fell under military administration.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10As prisoners of war, they were permitted to receive
0:09:10 > 0:09:15Red Cross parcels and to write to their wives and families.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20Back home in Wales, Gwladys kept all Ron's love letters safe.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26"My dearest wife, I have just received
0:09:26 > 0:09:29"the sweetest letter I have ever had from you, darling.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32"It's so full of love, I could almost imagine you
0:09:32 > 0:09:35"in my arms each time when I read it.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39"I had your photograph too, and it's a good one of you, dear.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42"You will be getting younger every photo I get.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44"I'm afraid it isn't the same with me.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47"I feel about ten years older now.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50"But it doesn't alter my love for you, dear.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52"In fact, it's greater than ever.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56"We are still waiting for that second honeymoon.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59"Still, it'll be all the sweeter when it do eventually come.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02"I lay awake planning where it will be,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04"but I always plan a different place,
0:10:04 > 0:10:09"so I think I will leave it entirely to you, sweetheart.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12"Remember, I still love you, darling.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15"More than ever, I love you. Always yours, Ron."
0:10:26 > 0:10:29So, are these sort of concrete structures relics from the wartime?
0:10:29 > 0:10:33- Would they have been here? - Yes, there was, um, a shelter.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Over there was the foundation of a barrack for the guards
0:10:37 > 0:10:39and, over there, there was the kitchen area
0:10:39 > 0:10:44and behind the kitchen was the camp with such barracks for prisoners.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47- So those are the huts you'd have lived in?- Yes.- Yeah?- Yeah.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50I notice the windows are open there, though.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54That must've been the summer, cos, in the winter, the frost was
0:10:54 > 0:10:58so heavy, sometimes we had icicles inside...
0:10:58 > 0:11:00- Inside the windows? - Inside the windows.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02What were they like inside?
0:11:02 > 0:11:05- Um... - That's exactly how they were.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07I had that one, right on the end there.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10- Did you?- I'm going to fill up... - HIS VOICE CRACKS
0:11:10 > 0:11:12..seeing that.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16All emotional, yes, I can see me in that...
0:11:16 > 0:11:18HE SOBS
0:11:18 > 0:11:22- You can see yourself back there, can you, in that bunk?- Yeah, yeah.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27'Although uncomfortable, the British barracks were palatial
0:11:27 > 0:11:31'compared to conditions in the concentration camps.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33'Jews who hadn't been gassed on arrival
0:11:33 > 0:11:37'were stacked like animals in sub-human conditions.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40'Exhausted by cold and lack of food,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42'they were forced to work by the kapos,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46'privileged prisoners who'd beat them savagely.'
0:11:46 > 0:11:49They treated the Jews, you wouldn't believe it. Shocking!
0:11:49 > 0:11:53We used to boo the...the guards and all sorts, and the kapos.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57But what can you do? We were prisoners of war.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01One day, I had a food parcel,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04so I had a piece of sausage and I took it to the works
0:12:04 > 0:12:08and I gave it to one of the Jews, he said his name was Josef.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11And a couple of days after, look, he gave me that ring.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15- This ring, that you still wear... - That's the actual ring, yes.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18- ..the ring he gave you? - I still wear it. Very sentimental.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20What it must've meant to that man to get
0:12:20 > 0:12:22a bit of food from you that he would give you that ring.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25He was overwhelmed, staggered.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Yeah. He couldn't believe it, I suppose.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38'Not only did the British get better food
0:12:38 > 0:12:41'than the concentration camp inmates,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44'but they were also allowed surprising privileges.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48'On Sundays, they were let out of the camp to play football!'
0:12:49 > 0:12:54The Red Cross found out that we played football on Sunday afternoon,
0:12:54 > 0:13:00so they brought four lots of shirts, English, Scots, Welsh and Irish.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02That's the Welsh football team.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06- I'm the goalkeeper.- Amazing! That's you right there?- Yeah.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08Everyone's got the feathers on their chests?
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Yes, they were the paper ones.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15But that one, I embroidered it out of old socks.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18- That's amazing! So you did this? - I did that, yeah.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22We used to look forward to Sunday afternoons.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Even the guards looked forward to it!
0:13:24 > 0:13:26They used to cheer and...
0:13:26 > 0:13:29The factory workers used to come round.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31The whole pitch was surrounded.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Few men can say they've played for Wales.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36- RON LAUGHS - Fewer still representing Wales...
0:13:36 > 0:13:39- Yeah.- ..here in Auschwitz.- Yeah.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Peter, it seems almost against our understanding of this place that
0:13:43 > 0:13:46these prisoners would be allowed to play football, or enjoy themselves?
0:13:46 > 0:13:48- Yes.- Why?
0:13:48 > 0:13:53But I think because the, er... British prisoners of war were under
0:13:53 > 0:13:57the military administration and, as such, they had certain rights.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00And, of course, from time to time, the representatives
0:14:00 > 0:14:03of the Red Cross could visit this camp of the British.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06They would hear complaints about it and so,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10that was why the Germans, um, tried to keep certain standards.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- Er, I mean, to be having fun... - RON LAUGHS
0:14:13 > 0:14:17..which is not a word associated with this part of Poland.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19I mean, did it seem strange having this release
0:14:19 > 0:14:21- when other things were going on?- No.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25The Germans wouldn't believe that they couldn't get us down.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28- Even here?- No, never got us down. - With the most terrible and horrific
0:14:28 > 0:14:32- deeds of humankind going on around you?- No, never got us down, no.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52'Whilst British prisoners were able to escape
0:14:52 > 0:14:55'into a fantasy world of football once a week,
0:14:55 > 0:15:01'for Jews, like Josef, Auschwitz held a very different reality.'
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Do you know what happened to Josef?
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Yes. About a fortnight after, he gave me the ring.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13And when he disappeared one morning...
0:15:14 > 0:15:16I asked one of his colleagues,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18"Where was Josef?"
0:15:18 > 0:15:22And that's all he said, "Gas chamber. Kaput."
0:15:22 > 0:15:25That's just how he put it. That's just how he said it.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29They were too weak to work so they took them to the gas chamber.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Could you imagine those final moments for Josef
0:15:34 > 0:15:35in somewhere like this?
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Yes. Yes. Yes.
0:15:37 > 0:15:38I knew exactly.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44We used to get terrible nightmares.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47We all thought that if the Germans were pushed,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50they'd put us in the gas chamber.
0:15:55 > 0:15:56"I am like you, dear,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59"wanting the day when we are together again
0:15:59 > 0:16:01"and we don't need to write.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04"We'll be able say all we want to in each other's arms.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07"Sometimes it gets unbearable.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09"Then I lay down and try and sleep to forget.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12"More often than not, it is impossible, darling.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17"I love you terrible and it seems as though I love you more now
0:16:17 > 0:16:19"than when I left.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22"They say 'absence makes the heart grow fonder',
0:16:22 > 0:16:24"and I believe it's right too.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28"I'm longing to give those luscious kisses you are waiting for, my dear.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31"You're not fading from my memory, dearest.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34"Your ever-adoring, loving Ron."
0:16:49 > 0:16:51NEWSREEL: 'People of Western Europe,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53'a landing was made this morning
0:16:53 > 0:16:57'on the coast of France by troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59'The hour of your liberation is approaching.'
0:17:01 > 0:17:03- NEWSREEL: - 'Fighter planes roam Europe
0:17:03 > 0:17:05'knocking out railroads and highways,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08'harassing enemy motor transport, tanks and troop concentrations,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11'and chewing up German communications.'
0:17:13 > 0:17:15As the Allies drove Hitler back,
0:17:15 > 0:17:21American bombers set their sights on targets deep within enemy territory.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24IG Farben's massive factory complex was hit
0:17:24 > 0:17:27but not all the bombs were on target.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Ron wanted to visit a nearby cemetery.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33Interesting. This is, um,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35a plaque "commemorating
0:17:35 > 0:17:38"the following British servicemen who died
0:17:38 > 0:17:43"in the British POW Camp E715, Stalag 8B..." That was your...
0:17:43 > 0:17:45That's it.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46That was your camp.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50- "..On the 27th August 1944." - I'll see if I can remember anybody.
0:17:50 > 0:17:51Do you recognise some of these names?
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Harold Rush, yeah, I remember him.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00- So this is from a bomb that fell... - Yeah.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03- In our camp.- An American bomb?- Yeah. - And all these men...
0:18:04 > 0:18:07- ..died on that one... - Yeah.- From that one bomb?- Yeah, 39.
0:18:07 > 0:18:08Did you see what happened?
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Yeah, of course I did. Yeah. I helped to get them out.
0:18:12 > 0:18:13What happened?
0:18:13 > 0:18:16- Well...- Where were they? - In the slit trench.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18And one bomb dropped right in the entrance to it.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20- Right in the entrance? - Right in the entrance.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23- So all the men that were sheltering...- It was chaos there.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Chaos. There was a lot of men injured.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28Why weren't you in the shelter?
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Because I was a bit claustrophobic. I never liked the shelter.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Lucky.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38You came close a few times and probably none closer than
0:18:38 > 0:18:39when that bomb went off that day.
0:18:39 > 0:18:40Evidently.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44There's another plaque on that gate there.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49- It says, bizarrely, an American bomb landed in this cemetery...- Yes.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51- So they say.- ..in 1945. - I didn't know that.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54- On the grave of the 38. - I didn't know that.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56- And they were bombed twice. - I didn't know that.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58Once in life and once in death.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01I... I didn't know that.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13In January 1945, with fighting drawing closer to
0:19:13 > 0:19:17Auschwitz, Nazi guards evacuated 56,000 prisoners
0:19:17 > 0:19:19from the concentration camp
0:19:19 > 0:19:22in what's become known as the "Death March".
0:19:22 > 0:19:28British prisoners, from Camp E715, were also moved out.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31It was absolutely freezing.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35- I think the temperature was 15 or 20 below.- Wow.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38Three foot of snow on the roads.
0:19:38 > 0:19:39No food.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42I remember kicking a pig out of the way once
0:19:42 > 0:19:43and pinching the potato he was eating.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45So there weren't any rations?
0:19:45 > 0:19:48- There were no sort of provisions for you in- any way? Nothing at all.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51- You were just scavenging? Just whatever you could get?- Yeah.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55I remember once it was a couple of chickens. We ate them an all, raw.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57- Raw?- Yeah.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Our boots started to fall apart,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01so in the end we threw them away.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03And I found some old sacks
0:20:03 > 0:20:04and wrapped some sacks round my feet.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07So, how far was the march?
0:20:07 > 0:20:0917 weeks.
0:20:09 > 0:20:10Oh...
0:20:10 > 0:20:12And some actually died.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14The guards used to just push them in the snow on the side
0:20:14 > 0:20:16of the road and left them there.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21I had this Rolex Oyster watch, and on the march
0:20:21 > 0:20:25I had a haversack on my back and I was holding it like this.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27And a German officer seen my watch.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29"You may as well give it to me now,"
0:20:29 > 0:20:31he said, "you're going to die anyway.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33"You're never going to complete this march."
0:20:33 > 0:20:38Cos men WERE dying on the side of the road. Anyway, he didn't take it.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43And one day he came one morning with a sack of bread.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46There must've been eight or ten loaves of bread in the sack.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50I was starving. I couldn't get the watch off quick enough, could I?
0:20:50 > 0:20:54So three of my mates and me, we had a meal.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58It was only dry bread but, believe me, it was like eating honey.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03It lasted about four or five days so maybe that's why I'm still alive.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Having crossed Czechoslovakia,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12the Brits stumbled into Southern Germany - 500 miles from Auschwitz.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16The end of April '45,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20they shut is in a van at Regensburg, as usual,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24and they didn't open up the following morning.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26It must've been three or four days.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29And then one morning, there was a rumbling noise outside,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33and bang, and the doors burst open,
0:21:33 > 0:21:35- and it was an American tank.- Oh!
0:21:35 > 0:21:38- It must've been amazing. - Oh, amazing. It was. Exhilarating.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41We were cheering and shouting.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45I even saw one of our boys caught hold of the driver of the tank
0:21:45 > 0:21:46and hugged him.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Although close to death, Ron was one of the lucky ones.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58As Hitler retreated, the Allies
0:21:58 > 0:22:03and Red Army broke open Nazi concentration camps across Europe.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08They filmed what they found. The world watched in disbelief.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12NEWSREEL: 'Allied leaders came to the camp
0:22:12 > 0:22:13'soon after the troops overran it.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16'And civilians of the Allied Investigation Commission
0:22:16 > 0:22:18'came to authenticate to the world
0:22:18 > 0:22:21'horrors that human beings found hard to believe.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26'Thousands of garments were stripped from prisoners.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28'Women's clothes.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31'Infants' shoes.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34'Even toys and dolls.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40'Human hair cut before death dulled its lustre.
0:22:41 > 0:22:42'Wedding rings.'
0:22:44 > 0:22:48At Auschwitz, Soviet troops discovered 7,000 prisoners
0:22:48 > 0:22:50'abandoned by the Nazis,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54'and evidence of genocide on an industrial scale.'
0:22:55 > 0:22:58'These are children who survived at Auschwitz.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02'Their parents and relatives had been murdered by poison gas.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04'Nothing left to identify them
0:23:04 > 0:23:07'except the numbers the Nazis tattooed on their arms.'
0:23:10 > 0:23:13It is estimated that more than a million people
0:23:13 > 0:23:15were killed at Auschwitz.
0:23:15 > 0:23:1910,000 of those died working for IG Farben.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25A group of Ron's fellow prisoners from Camp E715
0:23:25 > 0:23:28gave evidence at the Nuremberg trials.
0:23:28 > 0:23:3113 managers from IG Farben were imprisoned
0:23:31 > 0:23:34and the conglomerate broken up into smaller companies,
0:23:34 > 0:23:39including BASF and Bayer, which still trade today.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Ron Jones has never been compensated for his years of slave labour.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Ron, when you finally arrived back here in Newport,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57you'd been through so much, what state were you in?
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Oh, I was in a shocking state.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Nerves...
0:24:01 > 0:24:02weak...
0:24:02 > 0:24:03couldn't straighten up.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08I couldn't carry my kitbag - I was dragging it.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12- I was just over 7st.- Wow. - From 13st weight.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17I lost seven teeth, loose through malnutrition.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22- What state were you in mentally, you know?- A bag of nerves.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24I'd be like this all the time,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26thinking there was somebody behind me.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30I'd walk up the stairs backwards. I wouldn't walk up frontways.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32- You'd walk up the stairs backwards? - Yeah,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34- walking upstairs backwards. - Always watching your back?
0:24:34 > 0:24:37- Always walking back.- Always trying to protect yourself?- Yeah.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40- I suppose today we'd call it post-traumatic stress disorder.- Yes.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43- Yes.- Sounds like what you had. - I didn't realise it then, of course.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48I used to wake up shouting and covered in perspiration.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51How similar were you to the Ron that had left five years before?
0:24:51 > 0:24:52Oh, nothing. Nothing like it at all.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56I was an extremely fit fellow, bright as a button,
0:24:56 > 0:24:58full of life
0:24:58 > 0:25:01but when I came home I was like an old man.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05I lost it all.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07- In service...- You're bringing back memories now.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09I know. I know. It's hard, isn't it?
0:25:11 > 0:25:15It must've taken me all of about... oh, five years at least
0:25:15 > 0:25:18before I would say I was a normal man again.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35In May 1945, Ron finally returned home - to Bassaleg.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40We were a little village and everybody knew everybody else...
0:25:40 > 0:25:42- Yeah.- ..in those days.- Yeah.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Today it's like a small town.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Did you have any doubts about whether she'd...
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Well, she'd hopefully recognise you. But you were so different.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54- Were you worried about that? - Yes, I was. Of course I was.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56This is your street.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59- That's right. - Which one was your house?
0:25:59 > 0:26:02- Number five. That's the one. - Just there?
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Rosemead.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18And out here they had a great big banner up on the top there -
0:26:18 > 0:26:20- "Welcome home."- Did they?
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Balloons hanging from everywhere.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Come on then, Ron, let's have a look inside, see what you remember.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34RON LAUGHS
0:26:34 > 0:26:36- Well, well, well. - Your first home as a married couple.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39- And it's still called Rosemead. - Yeah.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41- Hello, sir.- How are you?- Very pleased to meet you.- How are you?
0:26:41 > 0:26:46- How are you doing?- When I was here, a Mrs Jobyns owned it.- Oh, right.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- Do you remember Mrs Jobyns? - I don't know, no.- No.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53And she split it into two. So we lived downstairs and she lived up.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55- Really.- Well, well, well.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58That was our bedroom, of course, downstairs.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01And the door was there.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03How does it feel to be back?
0:27:03 > 0:27:05- Does it feel a bit strange? - Good God.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07THEY CHUCKLE
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Gwladys and all my family were there.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18I walked up the steps and who should come out from the door?
0:27:18 > 0:27:20It was Gwladys.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25She was the first person I met. I... Oh...
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Oh, I can't describe it, how you feel.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30I was in seventh heaven.
0:27:30 > 0:27:31I never let her go for hours.
0:27:31 > 0:27:32HE CHUCKLES
0:27:35 > 0:27:38I remember her, the first night she put in me a bath.
0:27:38 > 0:27:39I couldn't climb in a bath.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42She put me in the bath and she started to cry.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44I said, "Oh, Gwlad, don't cry, love.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47"I left men out there that are never going to come home."
0:27:51 > 0:27:53So it has brought back plenty of memories?
0:27:53 > 0:27:55It comes flooding back when you stand in here again?
0:27:55 > 0:27:58I can remember. I can't believe that I'm in here.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Talk about excitement.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04But how lucky were you to come home to Gwladys?
0:28:04 > 0:28:06She'd waited for you. She...
0:28:06 > 0:28:09- Terrific.- Five years you'd been missing for.- Terrific. Terrific.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11I couldn't believe it.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Yep, those were the days.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20# Love is the sweetest thing
0:28:20 > 0:28:25# What else on earth could ever bring
0:28:25 > 0:28:30# Such happiness to everything
0:28:30 > 0:28:35# As love's old story... #
0:28:35 > 0:28:37It's been a real honour to get to know Ron
0:28:37 > 0:28:39and find out more about his story.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42The fact that he's not far off 100 years old
0:28:42 > 0:28:44yet his spark is undimmed,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47his recall is perfect and, quite frankly,
0:28:47 > 0:28:49it's hard to tire him out
0:28:49 > 0:28:53just give you a small hint of what an incredible man he is.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57Of course it's impossible to comprehend some of the things
0:28:57 > 0:29:00that happened during the war, but one thing is very clear,
0:29:00 > 0:29:05in this time of extreme hatred, it was love that drove Ron on.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08Well, that and perhaps a bit of football.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14# ..This is the song without end
0:29:14 > 0:29:18# Love is the strongest thing
0:29:18 > 0:29:22# The oldest
0:29:22 > 0:29:24# Yet the latest thing
0:29:24 > 0:29:29# I only hope that fate may bring
0:29:29 > 0:29:32# Love's story to you
0:29:37 > 0:29:39# Love is the sweetest thing. #