Honour guard at funeral of forgotten POW

A former Hungarian soldier who spent decades in Russia as a forgotten prisoner of the Second World War was buried with military honours near his home today.

Around 2,000 people attended the funeral of Andras Toma, who was 78. The Hungarian army provided an honour guard for Toma, who was laid to rest in Nyiregyhaza, 150 miles east of Budapest.

Known here as the Last POW, Toma had lived with his half-sister and her family since being brought back to Hungary from Russia in August 2000 after spending more than 50 years in Soviet prisoner of war camps and psychiatric clinics.

Soviet soldiers captured Toma in 1944 or 1945 when he fought with Hungarian forces allied with Nazi Germany. After becoming separated from other POWs and apparently suffering from a mental illness, Toma was “lost” by the Soviet bureaucracy.

His native Hungarian was mistaken for gibberish, and in 1947 he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital 450 miles from Moscow.

A Hungarian-speaking Slovak doctor met Toma by chance at the clinic and thought he recognised his language. The Hungarian Embassy stepped in to fly Toma back to Budapest.

Toma had one leg amputated and had forgotten his own name, but his case was widely publicised.

A nationwide search began for relatives who could identify him, and a brother and half-sister came forward.