Description
Object description
Original ms diary, in an Army Book 08, with printed and illustrated transcript (64pp), written from February 1942 to July 1945 by a gunner in the 35th LAA Regiment RA, beginning with a brief but interesting retrospective account of his service as the driver/batman to the Regiment's chaplain, G J Chambers, during the fighting in Malaya and Singapore (January - February 1942), but principally recording, in increasingly irregular entries, his experiences as a prisoner of war in the camps in Singapore at Changi (February - May 1942), Great World (May - August 1942), Changi Hospital (August 1942 - May 1944) and Woodlands Hospital (May 1944 - July 1945) during which time he acted almost continuously as batman to his chaplain (who died in July 1945) and other officers. The most interesting entries in his diary, which is accompanied by his two British Army identity discs on a cord, relate to the shortage of food and its effects on the health of the prisoners of war, the lack of contact by mail with home and camp concerts and other entertainments devised by the prisoners.
Content description
Original ms diary, in an Army Book 08, with printed and illustrated transcript (64pp), written from February 1942 to July 1945 by a gunner in the 35th LAA Regiment RA, beginning with a brief but interesting retrospective account of his service as the driver/batman to the Regiment's chaplain, G J Chambers, during the fighting in Malaya and Singapore (January - February 1942), but principally recording, in increasingly irregular entries, his experiences as a prisoner of war in the camps in Singapore at Changi (February - May 1942), Great World (May - August 1942), Changi Hospital (August 1942 - May 1944) and Woodlands Hospital (May 1944 - July 1945) during which time he acted almost continuously as batman to his chaplain (who died in July 1945) and other officers. The most interesting entries in his diary, which is accompanied by his two British Army identity discs on a cord, relate to the shortage of food and its effects on the health of the prisoners of war, the lack of contact by mail with home and camp concerts and other entertainments devised by the prisoners.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 1999-02