Barbed-Wire Blues

Bernard Harris was a young Army bandsman when a bullet struck him between the eyes at close range during the Battle of Corinth. He survived, but the wound left him blind. A young Greek volunteer working in a improvised field hospital kept him alive by feeding him slices of boiled egg, and later Allied prisoners of war who were medics restored the sight in one eye. The memoir follows his everyday existence in prisoner of war camps in Greece and Germany.

Even behind the wire, Harris set up a theatre company and an orchestra that played for fellow prisoners and their German guards. His account is full of humorous anecdotes told by a natural storyteller who was also a talented musician. He was eventually repatriated through Sweden in late 1943.

Harris recalls the advice of John Borrie, a New Zealand doctor, fellow prisoner and musician, who told him that music can lift a person up when nothing else can. The book is written for readers interested in the Second World War, prisoner of war experience and wartime memoirs.