Award for couple who helped escaped prisoner of war

A 90-year-old Jersey woman has collected an award from the President of Uzbekistan on behalf of her family who sheltered an escaped Soviet prisoner of war during the occupation of the island.

Dulcie Le Breton's mother and father hid the man they knew as Tom, despite the risk of being punished if discovered.

The Order of Friendship Award has posthumously recognised their bravery and was presented to Dulcie Le Breton at her care home in Jersey by the Uzbekistan ambassador to the UK.

Le Breton received the award on Wednesday on behalf of her parents, John and Phyllis Le Breton, who were praised for their "courage and compassion".

Around 2,000 Soviet prisoners and forced labourers were moved to Jersey to build Nazi fortifications.

In 1943 Tom escaped one of the Nazis' forced labour camps in the island.

He found refuge with local farmers John and Phyllis Le Breton. The couple hid and fed him throughout the occupation which ended on 9 May 1945.

Le Breton said: "People say he was like a favourite uncle, but that was true. Oh, we loved him."

After liberation, surviving PoWs were sent back to the USSR and although Tom had promised to keep in touch, they lost contact. Three letters arrived in Jersey as he was taken home across Europe, but then there was silence and the family never knew more of Tom's fate back in the Soviet Union.

But BBC teams later tracked down Tom's descendants in Central Asia, far away from Jersey in the far east of Uzbekistan, and connected them through a video call.

They talked about Tom, whose real name was Bokejon Akramov, who died in 1996, after what his family said was a long and happy life.

Speaking about the decision to present the posthumous award to the Le Bretons, Uzbekistan ambassador to the UK Ravshan Usmanov said: "This is the highest ever possible order in Uzbekistan and it shows that the friendship between two countries should exist, is existing.

"This is a real symbol of people to people diplomacy that could bring our countries even closer to each other."

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