MEN who died for keeping islanders informed during the Second World War should have an official memorial. Joseph Gillingham never returned from Germany, where he was imprisoned in terrible conditions for 10 months for failing to hand in a radio and listening to prohibited broadcasts.

With the wireless hidden in a hole in the wall in their house in the Bordage, his wife, Netta, wrote down the evening news and made eight carbon copies which were distributed and also incorporated in Guns – the Guernsey Underground News Service – which ran to about 100 copies a day.

Her brother, Ernie Legg, who added information from the morning news, was also imprisoned at Naumberg prison, south of Leipzig, but eventually returned to Guernsey after his 22-month sentence.

The two men also covered for Netta, who had just given birth to Jean Harris, nee Gillingham.

‘As it’s 60 years on 4 June that my grandfather and great-uncle Ernie were sent away, it would be nice to commemorate their bravery in some way – not just them, but everyone else involved in Guns. They were never honoured for what they did and we are extremely proud of them,’ said Mr Gillingham’s granddaughter, Amanda Hibbs, Jean’s daughter.

The only memorial to Mr Gillingham is a small plaque on Netta’s grave at the Foulon Cemetery, which may have to be removed if the Treasury and Resources Department upholds the former Board of Administration’s decision to remove unapproved memorials. Following protests from the pressure group Foulon Friends, the decision was put on hold until the new department was formulated.

‘It would be very sad if they asked us to remove the plaque as it is the only memorial to my grandfather,’ said Mrs Hibbs.

Foulon Friends president Trevor Kirk said that he was aware of a number of similar memorials and that removing them was beyond any reasonable request.

The fact that Mr Gillingham never returned made the plaque more important to the family, he said.

‘After he was lost in such hardship and terrible circumstances, they’ve obviously got to have something in his memory.’

Netta had to bring up their daughter on her own and spent years trying to find her husband, writing to the Red Cross and the Foreign Office, but to no avail. The Royal Court declared him legally dead in 1947.

‘She struggled to bring me up and had to go to work. But she had no bitterness about it at all,’ said Mrs Harris.

Conditions in the prison were horrific. When Mr Gillingham left it, he weighed about six stone – half his normal weight. Mr Legg was kicked down the stairs for not walking fast enough, breaking his hip and causing him lifelong pain. He was freed by the American army on 13 April 1945 and expected to find Mr Gillingham at home in Guernsey. But Mr Gillingham’s family believes that instead of releasing him, the Germans sent Joseph into the concentration camp system, where he died – another statistic among millions.

‘He was released in April 1945, just before the liberation. If they had kept him in a few more weeks, he too would have been liberated,’ said Mrs Harris.

Charlie Machon, who was involved in producing Guns, died from overwork and starvation five months into his sentence of 25 months’ hard labour.

‘It’s very difficult to put into perspective these days what they went through. We can’t really understand the suffering they must have endured,’ said Mrs Hibbs.

It is believed that at least five people were involved in producing Guns, including Frank Falla and Cecil Duquemin, who were also imprisoned, and that it was revealed to the Germans by Irish informant Paddy Doyle, who ran a black market shop in Town.

Mr Gillingham’s family wrote to the Heritage Committee last year about the possibility of having a memorial. It said it could not support the naming of individuals on a public monument, nor did it have the finances to do so, but that it would back the family if they decided to create their own memorial.

Guernsey Deportees Association chairman Tom Remfrey said that the island was unique in that there was no public monument naming those who died as a result of being deported to the Continent for whatever reason during the war. There are such monuments in Jersey and Germany.

‘If the Gillingham family feel that it is time there is some recognition of what he and others did, then I would fully support it – perhaps it’s overdue,’ he said.

Mr Gillingham’s memory lives on within the family, especially through his great-grandson, who is also called Joseph.