Description
Object description
Interesting collection of ms papers covering his service as a Japanese translator for the Royal Navy (June 1942 - March 1946) posted to Delhi, India (November - December 1943), Colombo, Ceylon (January 1944 - November 1945), and Tokyo, Japan (January - March 1946). The papers consist of two ms daily diaries for 1943 and 1944 (368pp and 247pp respectively) covering his training as a translator and officer at Duchess House, west London (January - August 1943), his posting to an army decoding station in Delhi (November - December 1943), and to the shorestation HMS ANDERSON, Ceylon (January - October 1944); 48 ms letters (197pp) to his brother and sister-in-law (June 1942 - March 1946), including details of his initial training in the shorestation HMS ROYAL ARTHUR, Skegness, Lincolnshire (June 1942), his misery at Delhi, his clerical duties at Colombo and the journey to Japan, where he was absorbed into the Allied Translation and Interrogation Section (January 1946); and an ms letter (12pp) to a friend (January 1946) describing his voyage from Colombo via Sydney, Australia and Hong Kong, arriving at Yokohama, Japan (December 1945), including details of the poor British administration for the journey, his impressions of Hong Kong and Japan, his attachment 'by default' to the American troops in Japan, and the poor conditions and lack of work for him there. The collection is interesting for the cultural and intellectual comments made throughout (constant references to literature), and his lack of enthusiasm for his duties and low morale lend a morose air to his often disparaging comments about the WRNS and US troops with whom he served and the local people of India and Ceylon with whom he lived.
Content description
Interesting collection of ms papers covering his service as a Japanese translator for the Royal Navy (June 1942 - March 1946) posted to Delhi, India (November - December 1943), Colombo, Ceylon (January 1944 - November 1945), and Tokyo, Japan (January - March 1946). The papers consist of two ms daily diaries for 1943 and 1944 (368pp and 247pp respectively) covering his training as a translator and officer at Duchess House, west London (January - August 1943), his posting to an army decoding station in Delhi (November - December 1943), and to the shorestation HMS ANDERSON, Ceylon (January - October 1944); 48 ms letters (197pp) to his brother and sister-in-law (June 1942 - March 1946), including details of his initial training in the shorestation HMS ROYAL ARTHUR, Skegness, Lincolnshire (June 1942), his misery at Delhi, his clerical duties at Colombo and the journey to Japan, where he was absorbed into the Allied Translation and Interrogation Section (January 1946); and an ms letter (12pp) to a friend (January 1946) describing his voyage from Colombo via Sydney, Australia and Hong Kong, arriving at Yokohama, Japan (December 1945), including details of the poor British administration for the journey, his impressions of Hong Kong and Japan, his attachment 'by default' to the American troops in Japan, and the poor conditions and lack of work for him there. The collection is interesting for the cultural and intellectual comments made throughout (constant references to literature), and his lack of enthusiasm for his duties and low morale lend a morose air to his often disparaging comments about the WRNS and US troops with whom he served and the local people of India and Ceylon with whom he lived.
History note
Cataloguer PJG
History note
Catalogue date 1996-07-23