Ruth, 89, has collected together the diaries, letters, photos and memorabilia from her late husband Allen ‘Nab’ Stening’s war years and donated them as a collection to the Cowell RSL.

In addition to Nab’s collection - which includes many medals, his log book, telegrams and photographs - Ruth has added her own memories of a young mother left behind when her husband went to war.

Nineteen-year-old Nab was working as a shearer before he signed up to join the Royal Australian Air Force in 1941.

After completing his training he was sent to England where he served as the only Australian and the youngest spitfire pilot in Squadron 167.

But in 1944, Ruth received a telegram that Nab’s plane had been shot down over Mostar, Yugoslavia - and six weeks later she learned he’d become a prisoner of war.

Nab spent more than 12 months in a Yugoslav POW camp where he was responsible for his fellow prisoners and forced to sign his own death warrant should one of his charges escape.

“All those years, I slept with his last letter under my pillow until the next one came,” Ruth said. “He signed every one ‘love you forever’.

“Our son, Leith, got to know his father from photos...but, really, you know, we thought we’d lost him.”

Then, in April 1945, Ruth learned that Nab and a handful of fellow prisoners had escaped, running only at night, eating potatos out of fields and sleeping under the forest leaves before being picked up by British troops.

“When I got that telegram ‘safe in England’ I had no car but I put Leith on the bicycle and we rode all over Whyalla to tell our friends and family.”

After completing her book ‘Nab - Memories of a Young Spitfire Pilot’ Ruth has now donated Nab’s memorabilia to the Cowell RSL sub-branch.

“We were only too happy to house the collection here,” Cowell RSL sub-branch president Rob McFarlane said.

“Nab was born and bred in Cowell and its fitting that his memories stay in Cowell.

“The collection has been described as one of the best of its kind in the world and I think it’s important for local people to be able to enjoy this piece of local history.”

The collection will be housed at the Cowell RSL Hall - the story of a man who returned home from war to make a home in Cowell - alongside the more than 100 photographs of local servicemen and women who never returned.

The official opening will be held on Sunday, November 1, at 11.30am and the community is invited to be part of the opening and enjoy live performances of wartime songs by local artists.