Free Republic

'A British PoW captured by the Germans in World War I was freed to see his dying mother - but went back to the prison camp after giving the Kaiser 'his word' he would return. Capt Robert Campbell, aged 29, was gravely injured and captured just weeks after Britain declared war on Germany in July, 1914. But after two years in Magdeburg Prisoner of War Camp, the British officer received word from home his mother Louise Campbell was close to death. He speculatively wrote to Kaiser Wilhelm II, begging to be allowed home to visit his mother one final time....

A British soldier was freed from a German POW camp during World War One to see his dying mother - and kept his promise to the Kaiser by returning, historians have discovered. Captain Robert Campbell, aged 29, was captured just weeks after Britain declared war on Germany in July, 1914. But after two years in Magdeburg Prisoner of War Camp the British officer received word from home his mother Louise Campbell was close to death. He speculatively wrote to Kaiser Wilhelm II begging to be allowed home to visit his mother one final time. Incredibly the German leader granted the...