Michael Ralph Cister, Mick, was born
in Cape Town, South Africa on 2 Mar 1924. In 1941, Mick was a 17-year-old
galley boy aboard the British merchant ship, Eleonora Maersk. This
vessel was commanded to stand off Crete to evacuate Allied soldiers.
Unfortunately, it was sunk by a German submarine.
Mick managed to survive the sinking.
Despite his civilian status, he was made a prisoner of war and
incarcerated in Stalag 18A and sent to the Klagenfurt work camp. Mick was
the youngest in the Camp by almost three years. As you can see in this photo below, he
was just a lad. But he was not only the youngest, he was the first in the
Camp to die.
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| Hut Group. Mick Cister is on the extreme right of the photo |
On 16 Jan 1944, Mick was on a work party
clearing snow on the Lend Canal. The canal, located near the centre of
Klagenfurt, was used by the locals for recreational skating. On that day, the
RAF targeted Klagenfurt for its first bomb raid. Although the raid focused on
the rail yards, a rogue bomb hit the work party. Andreas Sihler, a guard
was killed as were several French POWs. Mick Cister, along with another
Australian POW was wounded.
Mick, however, never recovered from his injuries. He died 21 days after the incident, on 6 Feb 1944. He was buried in the Klagenfurt War Cemetery. Contrary to the age shown on his headstone, Mick died 24 days short of his 20th birthday.
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| Mick, mid-1943, now 19, sitting on the step with shirt sleeves rolled up. He was killed six months after this photo was taken. |
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