Photo Sharing Theme of the Week: Water

Question

This week's photo sharing theme: Water.

To participate, simply:

1. Choose a family photo that fits this week's theme.
2. Add it to this week's free-space gallery.
3. Reply with an answer below to let us know which photo you're sharing. If you want to include the photo but don't know how, click here.

The photo you share might be featured on the WikiTree home page and in our social media channels as next week's Family History Photo of the Week.

If you use a social network (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) you might want to share your photo there as well. This can be a great way to involve more family members. Many people love seeing old family photos. Be sure to add #52weeksofphotos and #wikitree to your post.

Also see: Profile Accuracy Theme of the Week: Conflict.

Answer 1

This photo, showing a group of POWs in a swimming pool, is an excellent highlighter for showing the ingenuity of the soldiers. Like all the sporting and theatre facilities, this swimming pool was created from scratch by Allied prisoners of war with little, if any, supplies and help from the German guards.

The photo may have been taken at either Stalag XX A in Poland or Stalag 383 in Germany, the latter of which held an Anzac Sports Day on April 25th 1943 and later 1944 (Anzac Day). The Anzac Day events were open to either Australasian or any soldiers who saw active service in 1914-1918 (and of course were imprisoned in Germany in 1943 or 1944) with 20 events being held in total.

If anyone is interested here are the recorded results for the main event in 1944 - the 100 yard Australasian Sprint Championship, in which one runner represented each Australian State and each New Zealand Island:

1st - [Unknown] Leggett - representing New South Wales (time 10.6 secs)

2nd - R. Byrne - representing New Zealand North Island (time unknown)

3rd - E. Hull - representing New Zealand South Island (time unknown)

Comments

Great photo and great military history, David! Given that D-Day was some 3 weeks ago, this is a nice bit of a tribute to all those who served during WWII and a testament to their ingenuity! Thank you!

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How extraordinary that you have this photo, and such a detailed story to go with it. Thank you for sharing, David.

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David, your interesting stories about prisoners of war have inspired me to research POW camps in the United States. Thank you.

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@Lloyd

Indeed it's certainly an amazing photo. I'm particularly grateful for my step great-grandfather who preserved the photo in his makeshift scrapbook and filled in the Anzac Day programme with the results. It's quite incredible to consider.

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@Joyce

Thank you very much your comment - POWs and POW camps are extremely to read and research about; it's interesting how people can so brilliantly pull together when no-one on the outside is there to help them (although I should say that the Red Cross did a huge deal for POWs across the world and when Germany and other countries experienced famine towards the end of the war, the Red Cross food parcels kept tens of thousands of soldiers alive).

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So many questions...the prisoners were able to build a swimming pool? I would have thought they were only allowed to make small rocks out of big rocks. And weren't  the 1944 Olympics cancelled? After reading your post,I found in a wikipedia article that Polish POWs in the Woldenberg (Dobiegniew) Oflag II-C prison camp were granted permission by their German captors to stage an unofficial POW Olympics during 23 July to 13 August 1944, they raised an Olympic flag made with a bed sheet and pieces of colored cloth. And finally, I wonder if the guards were invited to swim along or participate in the games and competition. Thank you so much for posting such a thought provoking picture...

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I saw this plaque at Patrick's Pub, just down the street from my home.

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@Bryan

So according to former prisoner J. J. McKibbin in his book 'Barbed Wire - Memories of Stalag 383' he writes that the POW Camp was severely understaffed with them only having guards in the main administrative building and around the perimeter in guard towers, only ever coming in to carry out their morning and evening duties (roll call, searches). Everything else was left for the prisoners to co-ordinate with the guards such as mail collection and distribution from the administrative office and each prisoner community (a total of 400 huts of 8-16 people) had to manage its own rations and collection of Red Cross food parcels.

In the centre of the camp was a market come town centre run solely by British prisoners (as I said earlier the Germans only came in twice a day unless the 'Reich Inspectors' were coming to visit) where three currencies (Cigarettes, British Pounds and German Marks) could be traded for basically anything.

There was a professional theatre company, a 50 strong brass band, at one point a circus, a racing track (for both people and animals as well as multiple 'farms' all set up by the prisoners. Only the farms did the prison chiefs have a problem with because by the end of 1942 there were over 10,000 rabbits milling about the place and they could only do anything about it because the rabbits were an equal nuisance to the prisoners.

Finally, the Anzac Day events of 1943 and 1944 were very much semi-professional and certainly no Olympics. It was a very simple competitions set up by a board of Australian and New Zealand prisoners who asked and were granted the permission of the Kommandant to hold a competition for the Australasian prisoner that had seen service in both world wars.

For someone who would have been at least 42 and was probably older, Leggett sure got a damn good time!

(Also read here for a museum-published another story with some pictures: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/model-train)

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@Joyce

Oh Wow! I wonder what happened to these prisoners after the war was over. You would hope that a release of any surviving prisoners was organised but getting the troops back to Britain after the War must surely have been an extremely hard task.

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@David Smith, Thank you for the additional information. The more I learn, I learn the less I know, I'm not a WWII scholar by any means, but this is totally new and fascinating to me. Since I have a model railroad myself, I especially enjoyed the article on prison modellers.Thank you.

Answer 2

This 1921 photo of my father Clare Alexander Lovelace Jr. watering the yard of his home at 1023 Boston, Muskogee, Oklahoma. I live not far from this house, and I drove by last week to see the house and flowers.

Comments

Fabulous photo, Alexis! I know I'm repeating what others have commented, but this photo really captures a child's wonderment at something as simple (to adults) as a stream of water coming from a garden hose. It's something we all can relate to. And your father's cuteness just seals it! Thank you for sharing.

How great that you live so close to where your father grew up!

Oh, I looked at your father's profile as well, and I agree with Robin. Very nicely done! A great example of the potential of a Wikitree profile, both in content and in appearance.

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I love that you could drive the house and imagine what it was like way back then. It doesn't seem to have changed much.

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Lloyd, thank you for such a thoughtful comment. It was not my idea to move away from Southern California, but my husband wanted to move here, not me. Funny how life connects us to the past.

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Joyce, I have had an amazing connection to this house. I am not one to believe in spirts, but somehow I have been drawn to this house by more than coincidence.

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Alexis,  When I was slightly older than your father, I remember, with the neighborhood children, if the water ran cold, putting the hose in our mouths and filling our tummies.......during the heat wave yesterday I looked at the photo and wished to do the same.

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Thank you John for your great comment about the fun of being a child and summertime.

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Thank you for sharing this wonderful photo of your father, he look like he is having fun

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Thank you dear Susan, he does look like he has a fun job to do.

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His biography is very well done and very touching. Thank you for sharing.

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Thank you Bryan for the nice complimentary comment about his biography.

Answer 3

The Allison/Rammel branch of my ancestors had a log cabin on the very top of Lake Michigan.  I spent several summers there as a youngster in the 1950s.

It is said that my great-grandmother, Etta May Omelia-Allison (1872-1944) really enjoyed spending time at the lake.  Below is a photo with her near a pile of drift wood she had collected.  It was likely taken in the early 1930s

Comments

Bill,  I can't help thinking about what your great grandmother might have created with her drift wood.....and, I wonder if her 'chair' might have drifted in?

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I think grandma was getting ready to show the family how to party at the lake, starting with a bonfire, hotdogs and s'mores.

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I actually still have a candle holder she made out of driftwood in about 1930

Answer 4

In  August 2013 I visited my youngest daughter and her family, in the U K This a collage of 3 photos , one with me in a boat on a tourist ride on Thames , other 2 we visited Leigh-on-sea ,it was such a fun trip 

Comments

Janine, I chose to find Leigh-on sea......also, found out what Cockles are. 

Answer 5

This is my special needs granddaughter getting her own drink of water, she was about 2 and a half in this picture.

Comments

I love this photo! It reminds me of my childhood. Thank you for sharing it.

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Lovely photo, M. Still in the 100s here in Arizona and bad news along the upper west coast into BC for heat. This is a great topic (water) for this week for those of us suffering from heat and drought! Photo reminds me of my childhood. Thanks!

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Such a great photo! It transports me back to my childhood, just as others have commented too. Thank you for sharing it.

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Cute photo.....M.....it wasn't until I came back that I realized I could still do that.....probably not, scaldingly hot here......and, Carol, it was 118F on the south veranda.......now 78F with a pleasant breeze.

Answer 6

This is a photo of my husband surfing at El Capitan State Beach in December 1997. It was a beautiful winter's day in Southern California.

David was an avid surfer from 1961 until about five years ago when his health forced him out of the water. And this was his favorite place to surf.

Comments

Wonderful photo, Cousin Robin. I'm sure it's difficult for him to no longer be able to surf.

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Thank you Robin for sharing such a wonderful photo. The colors of the water are fabulous. What a thrill it must be to be able to enjoy such an exciting sport. Your husband had to have been in amazing physical shape when this photo was taken.

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Thanks Carol. Yes, it's definitely hard for him. He still has all of his gear and is hoping for a miracle, I think.

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Thank you, Alexis. It's a beautiful place and we enjoyed many trips there, always camping in the trees above the ocean. He was in great shape. I tried it a time or two, but it was too late to start for me; my muscles wouldn't cooperate!

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Well, Robin, there should always be hope! I wish you both all the best and will hope for the best!

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Thank you, Carol!!

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What a great photo of your husband surfing, Robin! Thank you for sharing it. So sorry that your husband's health forced him to quit something he clearly was good at and enjoyed very much. That makes the photo even more meaningful. Here's hoping for his miracle!

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Thank you, Lloyd! We live only a mile from the ocean so he can still enjoy watching others surf. But it's, understandably, just not the same.

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Wow Robin, it certainly look dangerous what your husband is doing I am certainly impressed thank you for sharing this wonderful photo

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Thank you, Susan! It's not the surfing that's so dangerous. It's the rocks that are in the very shallow part in the front of this photo. Fortunately, he never landed on the rocks.

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Thank you for posting this great photo of your husband. So sorry to know that he no longer can surf, but maybe he can bounce back. I had to quit for a few years when I became extremely ill, but now, thanks to modern medicine, I am back on the waves. My favorite place to surf in California is Sunset Cliffs, San Diego. I even made a board with a sunset on it especially for this location. In Hawai'i, I won't tell where my favorite place is because it is a secret spot (that many people already know).

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Did you make your own boards? My husband made his. He also surfed a lot at the Sunset Cliffs spots. During the 90s, when we had a boat, we would go out from Shelter Island to the end of Point Loma and he would surf at a spot called Ralphs. Great fun!

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I previously made my own boards but I have only two of them left now - a knee board and a beat up board with heavy glass that is designed for close encounters with the O.B. pier. Others I have purchased more recently. I used to surf the Point Loma breaks all the time from in the 1990s.

Answer 7

My daughters Dad when he was a youngster. Climb aboard if you dare.

Comments

Thank you for sharing the adorable photo of you daughter’s dad. It reminds me that I have several photos of myself with a similar bandage on my head at about the same age.

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Pretty strong little dude to run it that far aground.

Answer 8

The girl at right, smiling at the camera, is my aunt, Betty McClain. Unfortunately I cannot identify anyone else in the photo. I'm not sure exactly where she is wading, but it is probably in one of the rivers or streams in western Linn County, Oregon. The photo was taken about 1925. I was tempted to crop it more tightly around my aunt, but I just had to leave in the lady with the extraordinary swim cap in the background at left.

Comments

Thank you Lloyd for sharing such a fun photo of your adorable aunt. You are right about about the swim cap; it is certainly interesting. Also congratulations again for having the photo of the week.

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Now this is my idea of enjoying the water! I always loved rivers and streams -- still do. Thank you, for sharing this great photo, Lloyd.

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Thank you, Alexis, for your kind and thoughtful comments.

As for getting photo of the week again, I'm very surprised. I was posting photos just for fun, and didn't imagine any of them would attract particular attention--especially considering some of the really great photos that get shared each week! But I am pleased that other people are getting enjoyment from photos that would not otherwise have been seen outside my extended family. Thank you for your support, Alexis!

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Thank you, Robin, for your nice comment. We've had record-setting hot weather the last few days here in Oregon, so wading in a cool stream looks awfully good to me right now, too!

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Amen to  the hot weather Lloyd.  A friend came back from Vegas too find Oregon hotter and my sister in San Antonio  was shocked at the high temp we got.  It was certainly the hottest I've experienced in my 68 yrs but luckily my AC unit kept up.  

That ladies bathing cap is astonishing!

Answer 9

My father, Ralph Taylor Lawson, and my son Joe, after a day of fishing and catching a string of catfish.

Comments

Bryan, this is a great photo! I especially like Joe's reaction. I'd have to agree with him. But your father sure looks pleased. Thank you for sharing this.

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Bryan......I've heard about catfish as far back as I can remember, but don't see them, here, on the West Coast.....just read up on them.

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Interesting, John. I guess I just thought catfish were universal. These are blue catfish. They dig burrows in the banks of creeks and lakes. They are bottom-feeders, eating grasses and insects and scavaging other fish. They have "whiskers" that help them find food, which is where they get their name. They don't have scales, but have a thick, tough skin. When breaded with cornmeal and fried, the have a unique delicious (I say) taste.

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I agree with Bryan, they are delicious!

Answer 10

In the summer, you can splash in the water to cool off. in the winter, if you don't have running water in your house, you will need to haul it home in a pail, the way my grandfather did.

Comments

Joyce,  I remember, at a young age, my mother teaching in North Central British Columbia, where, not everyone had running water as we moved to different towns each year. In the spring of grade 2, when we moved to a new plywood house, I was to help get water after school with a new galvanized garbage can and wagon.......instead I chose to watch my wealthy friend's large 2 story ranch house burn to the ground for lack of a fire department......I  took my lickin'.

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Oh, my, John, what a story!

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...with a pipe to keep you warm.

Answer 11

SS Sicamous sternwheeler (CPR), circa 1928, on Okanagan Lake, British Columbia, Canada......from my father's album.......the lake only freezes over about once a decade.                            

Comments

Thank you John for sharing this beautiful photo of the SS Sicamous. I appreciated the link to read about its history. It was fascinating. I got a laugh about the ladies and the gentleman having separate viewing areas. Your father must have left a wonderful album.

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Alexis,  My grandfather brought his family, after regrouping in England in 1908, to early retirement and homesteading in the Okanagan when the SS Okanagan was in service.......the SS Sicamous went into service just before WWI started and my father returned to England for naval officer training, eventually returning to the Okanagan in the mid 1920s, when the SS Sicamous was still in full service.  The climate was considered excellent in the Okanagan and Victoria, B.C. and the people in both locations reminded them of 'Olde England'.......and, yes, I'm still working my way into my  father's 'wonderful' albums. 

Answer 12

I've chose this photo of me on a beach in Lancashire, England in May 1957. That expression just about sums up my opinion of cold water ever since.  

Comments

Gillian.....Is there a little bit more, to the expression, that you're not admitting? 

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Quite possibly!

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Gillian, you are just precious. Maybe you found some seashells to put in your bucket.

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Gillian, you look like a Kewpie Doll! Adorable!

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Thank you Alexis, you're probably right about the sea shells, I always loved collecting them and when I was older I loved the lamps and ornaments made of them.

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Thank you Carol. I had to look up what a Kewpie Doll is, very sweet of you to liken me to them!

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This water really is freezing. I know because once I attempted to "swim" at Cornwall, which is "tropical" compared to Lancashire. Gillian, please keep the cute photos coming this way.

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I have to agree, your picture is precious.

Answer 13

Photo taken by my grandmother's Aunt Helen, sometime in early 1900's.  Crossing the Heart River in North Dakota, they had to stop and let the engines refill :)

Comments

This is a wonderful picture. I love that Aunt Helen had her camera ready. She must have waded in the water to get to the spot to take the picture.

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And I must ask....Rob....do you have a refuelling photo in the next field?  

Answer 14

Originally I posted a picture of myself and friends in 1965 hanging out on the beach with our surfboards. Evidently this picture is privacy protected because I am not dead yet.

Instead, here is a picture of Captain Samuel Hildreth, a sea captain who died in a hurricane at sea two weeks after a well known worldwide disaster, the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. I can confirm that Capt. Hildreth is dead.

Against an already challenging backdrop of unusually cataclysmic events, Capt. Hildreth's death at sea occurred during a major hurricane, which moved through the Lesser Antilles on 4 Sep. 1883. His death date, 10 Sep. coincides exactly with the statistical peak of hurricane season reported by the U.S. National Hurricane Center. According to historical sources summarized in Wikipedia, the Bahamas-North Carolina Hurricane of 1883 "crossed Hispaniola, weakening to a minimal hurricane. It restrengthened as it passed the Bahamas, and struck North Carolina as a Category 2 hurricane on the 11th. It dissipated over Virginia on September 13. ... Several vessels were wrecked off the North Carolina coast..."

Comments

Hi Marion. I can't see your picture, and I so want to see you with your surfboard.

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Picture is probably privacy protected. Here's some instructions. (Click this link.)

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Robin, I am sitting on my board in this picture. Look quick because if this picture is privacy protected, I will have to select another water picture ;-)

Evidently, I cannot post a picture of myself because I am not dead yet. so I have to remove the pic. Stay tuned for a better water picture of a sea captain who died at sea.

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Thank you, Joyce, for pointing out my error. I have changed the picture to one that is more public. Enjoy.

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Marion, this is a great photo and a great story. I especially like his facial hair! Thank you for posting it.

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Back by popular demand, here is the photo from 1965 at a Southampton Town Beach on Long Island, NY. Here I am sitting on my board with my surfing partners. (I hope I am posting this right).

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Yes, you posted it right. Thanks for TWO pictures this week.

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Great photo, Marion! I'm glad you were able to post it. The East Coast is one place my husband never surfed. Thanks for your persistence.

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Marion......Thumbs up for succeeding in posting your photo.

Answer 15

My great grandfather, on the left, training other naval reservists, prior to WWII, where he continued training naval gunners on merchant marine ships, throughout the war.

Comments

Looks like they are learning to tie knots?

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Yep, this photo is out of an old navy book. I guess during the reserves training, they trained in a lot of things, but as far as I know, during the war, he trained the defence crews on merchant ships. He'd get on a ship at port, and sail with them to the next port, training the crew, mostly in the guns I think. Then he would get off at the next port, and jump on the next ship out of port. Spent a lot of time between Australia and South Africa, and specifically between Sydney and Singapore. Occasionally went as far as England. I do have a better picture of him, but I thought that one was nice, because he could be seen doing his job. Let's face it, they probably posed for the photo!!

After the war, he was offered a job as security at our local naval base, until he retired. He grew up around the water, in Warrnambool. But I have limited photos of ancestors, and none actually in water. But the connection to the navy should be obvious enough.

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I'm guessing from the headgear that your great grandfather was an enlisted seaman and his students, by their caps, are officers. I see that things haven't changed, you have to teach those officers everything!

Answer 16

Me and my grandfather, on the lake, Lake Erie, in his big, homebuilt boat.  Endless water.

Comments

Thank you Mark for sharing such a great photo of you with your grandfather. It is very impressive that the boat is home built.

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You can see that your grandfather really loved to be out on the lake! Who took the picture, do you know?

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That is certainly a large (wide) boat. From the looks of the choppy waves, he probably built it wide for stability?

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My dad took the photo.

Answer 17

Here I am with my father, probably aged 10, on a family outing.  My mother loves ships, so we were very often near the water.  I clearly remember that red jacket; funny how random details like that stick in your memory.

Comments

Wonderful, happy photo, Betsy!! Thank you for sharing it.

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It looks like you and your father enjoyed each other's company.

Answer 18

Picture of the 1907 flood on the Susquehanna River at Plymouth, Pennsylvania. The Davenport property was on the "flats" down by the river. They had a truck farm and market, and evidently a stable also. The owner was my gg Grandfather, Andrew Eugene Davenport.

Comments

My first thought....river's rising; my second thought 'shipping' the produce to market.

Answer 19

This is not really a photo, but an engraving from an 1859 map of Herkimer County.  It shows the New Graefenberg Water-Cure establishment built and operated by an ancestor of mine, Richard Holland.  The water cure, or hydrotherapy, which had been known in antiquity, was undergoing a renaissance in Europe and America in the 1840's.  Hundreds of clinics were built in the U.S., mostly in the northeast.  Going to such clinics seems to have been something of a fad for prominent and well-to-do people for a time prior to the Civil War.

Richard Holland had been a hat-maker in Maine, but after his wife died in childbirth in 1845 he moved to New York, built the clinic depicted here and started calling himself Dr. Richard Holland.  The clinic was a success, and Richard did eventually get a medical degree from the short-lived Syracuse Medical College in 1852.  It may have been more honorary than earned; between his responsibilities running the clinic, and publishing a monthly water cure journal (The New Graefenberg Water-Cure Reporter), it seems unlikely that he attended many lectures.  He may not have been much of a doctor, but I bet he was a good salesman.