Description
Object description
Wordprocessed memoir (22pp) compiled from his ms notes and correspondence with fellow ex-prisoners of war, mainly dating from the 1990s and brought together with other associated material, covering the deployment of the 35th Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) Regiment Royal Artillery (RA), in which he had served as a subaltern, on airfield defence and some other duties during the fighting in Singapore (January 1942), Sumatra (February 1942) and Java (February - March 1942) and also describing his subsequent experiences as a prisoner of war in the camps at Tandjong Priok, Java (March - September 1942), Changi, Singapore (September - October 1942) and Kuching, Borneo (October 1942 - September 1945) and including transcripts of his letters home just after his liberation commenting that in many respects those held in the officers' camp at Kuching had been 'amazingly lucky' despite the inadequacy of their rations, the lack of medical supplies and the poor treatment from some of their guards; together with two letters to a schoolfriend written by him in September 1945 following his liberation giving copious details about the medical effects, both physical and mental, of the privations that they had experienced during captivity as well as commenting more generally on conditions in Kuching and their excellent treatment since their release (with typed transcriptions); carbon copy of a letter written by him in September 1945 in hospital on Labuan island after his liberation, with further details of his wartime experiences; and copies of his ms notes (8pp), written in the 1990s, on the service of the batteries in the 35th LAA Regiment RA during the Second World War. Also in the collection are six `essays’ written in the 1980s – 90s by Norman Stanley Alexander, formerly Professor of Physics at Raffles College, Singapore, during 1936 – 1952, regarding various aspects of his pre-war and wartime work and experiences including his internment in Changi prison, the design and operation of an improvised `salt works’ in the prison, and various military-scientific projects with which he was involved in his academic capacity (including Radio Direction Finding – RDF), some in collaboration with his wife Dr Elizabeth Alexander [N S Alexander was Lt J B Harris’ father-in-law].
Content description
Wordprocessed memoir (22pp) compiled from his ms notes and correspondence with fellow ex-prisoners of war, mainly dating from the 1990s and brought together with other associated material, covering the deployment of the 35th Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) Regiment Royal Artillery (RA), in which he had served as a subaltern, on airfield defence and some other duties during the fighting in Singapore (January 1942), Sumatra (February 1942) and Java (February - March 1942) and also describing his subsequent experiences as a prisoner of war in the camps at Tandjong Priok, Java (March - September 1942), Changi, Singapore (September - October 1942) and Kuching, Borneo (October 1942 - September 1945) and including transcripts of his letters home just after his liberation commenting that in many respects those held in the officers' camp at Kuching had been 'amazingly lucky' despite the inadequacy of their rations, the lack of medical supplies and the poor treatment from some of their guards; together with two letters to a schoolfriend written by him in September 1945 following his liberation giving copious details about the medical effects, both physical and mental, of the privations that they had experienced during captivity as well as commenting more generally on conditions in Kuching and their excellent treatment since their release (with typed transcriptions); carbon copy of a letter written by him in September 1945 in hospital on Labuan island after his liberation, with further details of his wartime experiences; and copies of his ms notes (8pp), written in the 1990s, on the service of the batteries in the 35th LAA Regiment RA during the Second World War. Also in the collection are six `essays’ written in the 1980s – 90s by Norman Stanley Alexander, formerly Professor of Physics at Raffles College, Singapore, during 1936 – 1952, regarding various aspects of his pre-war and wartime work and experiences including his internment in Changi prison, the design and operation of an improvised `salt works’ in the prison, and various military-scientific projects with which he was involved in his academic capacity (including Radio Direction Finding – RDF), some in collaboration with his wife Dr Elizabeth Alexander [N S Alexander was Lt J B Harris’ father-in-law].
History note
Cataloguer RWAS