The subjects of the fifth in the series 'Village Personalities' featured on these pages have only lived in Wood Ditton for the comparatively short period of 25 years although Daphne lived in Saxon Street with her family before her marriage. Nevertheless they are interesting examples of how World War II often affected lives in remarkable ways and sometimes brought people together from quite different backgrounds.
Joseph Krombacker (or 'Sepp' as he has been known for most of his life) was born in Bavaria and came from a strong Catholic family. As a boy he joined the Jungvolk which prepared boys of ten to fourteen for Hitler Youth and was strongly encouraged at the time. In 1939 at the age of 19 and with no particular trade he volunteered for the Luftwaffe, not out of any particular nationalistic feelings but like many young men of his time seeking adventure and excitement. The outbreak of war saw him in military training but for the first two years his duties were on the ground. Any hopes of getting in the air were not to be realized until 1942 when he received flying training as a bomb-aimer/navigator in Heinkel 111s.
By the time he had completed his training, Germany was deeply into the Russian campaign and Sepp's fate was to be sent to the front line as one of a ground support unit. By the summer of 1943 the German advance had been halted and the tide was turning with the Russian army going on the offensive. Sepp was attached to a unit near Stalingrad when he received a splinter wound in the hand which, mercifully for him as things turned out, resulted in his being sent back to Germany
When he had recovered enough to return to active duty he was given the choice of transferring to the infantry or the S.S. Neither appealed to him and he managed to get accepted for parachutist training. This seems to have been a lucky choice for Sepp as the need for parachute units had diminished, especially after their big set-back during the German invasion of Crete.
After D Day and the slow but irresistible allied advance through Europe in 1944, all available German troops were thrown into a desperate attempt to defend the German homeland and Sepp came up against the advancing British near Aachen, close to the Belgium border. There he was captured in September of that year and with some feeling of relief, for him the war was over.
Sepp was brought to England and eventually finished up in a Prisoner of War camp at Cheveley Park. Once the European war had ended German P.o.W.s had to work on local farms and one of these was Oak Farm at Kirtling, which happened to be managed by Daphne's father and uncle Stan.

Daphne was one of three daughters of Al Bailey of Saxon Street, haulage contractor and former landlord of The King's Head at Dullingham, and she sometimes made visits to Oak Farm. Most of the German P.o.W.s worked well and were valued by the farmers. As Christmas 1946 approached someone suggested that it would a nice gesture of goodwill and reconcilliation to invite the prisoners into the farmhouse to share Christmas Day. Despite the language problems the day turned out to be a memorable occasion, especially for Sepp and Daphne, with the Germans singing their own carols and the English theirs.
In 1949 Sepp was allowed by the authorities to return home to Bavaria but was given a free return ticket with the option of coming back to England to work if he wished. He stayed with his family, but kept up a correspondence with Daphne and after a while the two decided to marry. Sepp's parents strongly disapproved of him marrying an English girl and a Protestant to boot, but love triumphed and they were married in Wood Ditton Church on 29th December 1951.
At first Sepp and Daphne lived in a flat at Newmarket but by 1952 they had moved into a new bungalow in Cheveley. Sepp was working as a lorry driver for his wife's father who had several lorries. Al died in 1964 and for a while Daphne's mother carried on the haulage business before it became too much and and she had to sell up. Sepp bought one of the lorries and this started the couple off as self-employed haulage contractors. As the business prospered they were looking around for more space to park their lorries and in 1974 The Mill House at Wood Ditton came on the market. This suited them fine as it had the seclusion and the space they needed. They took the opportunity and have never regretted it.
Today Sepp and Daphne are enjoying their retirement in the charming old house and garden, with the stump of the old windmill close by. They have two daughters, both teachers, and one grandaughter. Sepp is a popular figure locally and they have many friends in the village and district, including Jack and Doris Scrivener who are featured on these pages in No 3 in the series of Village Personalities. There are parallels in the lives of Sepp and Jack in that they both joined their country's forces in 1939, but on opposing sides. Both became prisoners of war but Sepp was lucky to have been capured by the British where the treatment he received was infinitely better than that meted out to Jack.
Looking back on the war Sepp muses: "What a waste, all due to human greed for possessions". Indeed Sepp and Jack are reminders of the folly of war, when ordinary people are set against each other, who given the chance would be friends.

Daphne & Sepp at home at The Mill House