Longest Walk Home by Ray Bailey

In 1940, Private Raymond Bailey, a 21-year-old Vauxhall motors apprentice, was captured in northern France, becoming a Nazi prisoner of war. But he wouldn’t remain one for long…

The Longest Walk Home is the incredible account of his daring 2,000 mile escape across Europe and over the Pyrenees, to the safety of British Gibraltar, and home in time for Christmas. Along the way Ray has nerve-shredding encounters with German soldiers and the Spanish Civil Guard. Often he is exhausted and starving. All that keeps him going is his youthful energy, unfailing optimism, and the kindness of strangers who risk their own safety to help him.

Ray’s escape is remarkable, but so too is his memoir. It was written within a year or two of the events it describes, when Ray was just 22, and despite Ray’s obvious writing talent it was lost for decades until it was discovered at auction in an unmarked box of WWII memorabilia by David Wilkins. Ray’s is a true unheard voice, and one of the last from this time.

The recently discovered gripping escape memoir of WWII POW Raymond Bailey

About the Author: Raymond Bailey was born in 1919, the son of a miner. He left school aged fourteen and began work as an apprentice lathe operator at the Vauxhall Car Works in Luton. In 1939 he was in the first wave of young British men called up to fight in the Second World War. After basic training, Ray’s battalion was posted to France and thrown into some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire conflict. In June 1940, just a few weeks after arriving in France, Ray found himself among the thousands of British soldiers captured at the catastrophic Battle of St Valery.

11 Sep 2025
 

The Longest Walk Home: The epic 2,000 mile escape of a WWII POW, in his own words by Ray Bailey ISBN 9781529447071