Teachers are Mr Herman Wood (German) and Mr Jones Hurst (French). Back Row l-r: ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ?? Mike Beckwith, ??.
Middle Row l-r: ??, Keith Barker, Jim Black, ??, John Harker, ??.
Front Row l-r: Barry Errol, Eric Wardaugh, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??. It would be appreciated if anyone can fill in the blanks.
Photograph and details courtesy of Jim Black.
Picture Stockton Archive 
Whilst serving as a British Soldier in Europe WW2, The teacher shown, Mr Wood, was shot in the forehead during a battle. Afterwards he was taken to a German civilian hospital badly injured, to save his life the Surgeons there (thank you) inserted a silver plate in his forehead to replace the section of skull that had been ‘shot away’. Mr Wood’s school desk was always placed in the front l/h corner of the classroom – close to the windows – and when the sun shone the left side of his forehead (facing the class) lit up, you could easily see the outline of the silver plate inserted under-his forehead reflecting strong sunlight like a mirror.
I once told Mr Wood, I found it remarkable that an enemy British soldier was so well taken care of in Germany, he acquainted me with the fact that this high standard of medical care was common, and despite the war – there was a huge sympathy movement on both sides for the welfare of each others captured, shot or injured soldiers. The German people knew that if their sons and daughters were captured by the Brits, then they would be well taken care of, and would survive the war, so they returned this gesture of mutual respect by doing the same for our troops, with Mr Wood being a prime example.
* This was 61 years ago, I think we called him Ernest Wood. During the war Britain had over one million German POW prisoners, most were shipped to Canada via New York harbour on the commandeered troopship HMS The Queen Mary, my father-in-law was in the Military Police and was stationed on board this ship as a prisoner guard.
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