Description
Object description
Photocopy of a ts memoir 'One Man and His War' (147pp), written in 1988, covering his conscription, after falsifying his true age of seventeen, into the RAF (June 1940), his training as an aircraftman in Cheshire and at Hereford and his qualification as a fitter armourer (guns), his voyage on the troopship ATHLONE CASTLE from the United Kingdom, via Durban in South Africa, to Singapore (June - August 1941) and service with No 153 Maintenance Unit RAF, mainly at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya from August 1941 till their withdrawal in January 1942 to Singapore and then almost immediately on the MV KLANG to Java, their experiences during the ill-fated campaign in Java including a heavy Japanese air raid on Tjilatjap (January - March 1942); and his experiences as a prisoner of war in Java at Djokjakarta camp, at Jaarmarkt, Lyceum and Darmo camps in Sourabaya (March 1942 - April 1943), at Tjimahi hospital camp (April - June 1943), Bandoeng camp (June - December 1943) and Cycle camp in Batavia (December 1943 - May 1944), on a prison ship from Java to Sumatra (May 1944) and his employment on the building of the Pekanbaroe - Moero railway in Sumatra, acting from July 1944 up to Japan's surrender as the interpreter at camp 3 (at Katabulu, later Kubang); and recording the change in their guards' behaviour after August 1945, the arrival in the railway camps of units from Force 136, the evacuation of the prisoners from Sumatra to Singapore by landing craft (August - September 1945), his repatriation on the troopship HIGHLAND MONARCH (October - November 1945) and return home to Cumberland. The memoir is particularly informative about the method of construction of the Sumatra railway by prisoners of war and native labour, the harsh living conditions in the railway camps and their relations with their guards.
Content description
Photocopy of a ts memoir 'One Man and His War' (147pp), written in 1988, covering his conscription, after falsifying his true age of seventeen, into the RAF (June 1940), his training as an aircraftman in Cheshire and at Hereford and his qualification as a fitter armourer (guns), his voyage on the troopship ATHLONE CASTLE from the United Kingdom, via Durban in South Africa, to Singapore (June - August 1941) and service with No 153 Maintenance Unit RAF, mainly at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya from August 1941 till their withdrawal in January 1942 to Singapore and then almost immediately on the MV KLANG to Java, their experiences during the ill-fated campaign in Java including a heavy Japanese air raid on Tjilatjap (January - March 1942); and his experiences as a prisoner of war in Java at Djokjakarta camp, at Jaarmarkt, Lyceum and Darmo camps in Sourabaya (March 1942 - April 1943), at Tjimahi hospital camp (April - June 1943), Bandoeng camp (June - December 1943) and Cycle camp in Batavia (December 1943 - May 1944), on a prison ship from Java to Sumatra (May 1944) and his employment on the building of the Pekanbaroe - Moero railway in Sumatra, acting from July 1944 up to Japan's surrender as the interpreter at camp 3 (at Katabulu, later Kubang); and recording the change in their guards' behaviour after August 1945, the arrival in the railway camps of units from Force 136, the evacuation of the prisoners from Sumatra to Singapore by landing craft (August - September 1945), his repatriation on the troopship HIGHLAND MONARCH (October - November 1945) and return home to Cumberland. The memoir is particularly informative about the method of construction of the Sumatra railway by prisoners of war and native labour, the harsh living conditions in the railway camps and their relations with their guards.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 1999-10