Description
Object description
Photocopy of an illustrated dossier (135 pp) compiled by his nephew, George Worrall, in the late 1990s from surviving family papers, but principally from secondary sources, official documents and testimony provided by his uncle's contemporaries, recording how, as an Aircraftman RAFVR serving with No 84 Squadron RAF, he sailed on the troopship YOMA from Egypt to Sumatra in January - February 1942, was almost immediately evacuated, probably on the SILVER LARCH, to Java (February 1942), was taken prisoner and held in camps in Java (March - September 1942) and then in Borneo at Jesselton (October 1942 - March 1943) and Sandakan, where the prisoners were mainly employed on airfield construction, from April 1943 till his death in February 1945. The dossier, which includes a ts Japanese instruction authorising 'amusing hours' at Sandakan (May 1943) and Waterhouse's death certificate, purportedly signed by a Japanese medical officer (February 1945), is accompanied by a file of photocopies of the letters and other official communications, 25 February 1942 - 25 July 1949, received by his wife in Swinton, Lancashire from the Air Ministry, the RAF Record Office, the British Red Cross Society, the Ministry of Pensions and the Imperial War Graves Commission when he was posted missing, while he was a prisoner of war and after the official news of his death, together with colour photocopies of the five postcards that he was permitted to send home during his captivity.
Content description
Photocopy of an illustrated dossier (135 pp) compiled by his nephew, George Worrall, in the late 1990s from surviving family papers, but principally from secondary sources, official documents and testimony provided by his uncle's contemporaries, recording how, as an Aircraftman RAFVR serving with No 84 Squadron RAF, he sailed on the troopship YOMA from Egypt to Sumatra in January - February 1942, was almost immediately evacuated, probably on the SILVER LARCH, to Java (February 1942), was taken prisoner and held in camps in Java (March - September 1942) and then in Borneo at Jesselton (October 1942 - March 1943) and Sandakan, where the prisoners were mainly employed on airfield construction, from April 1943 till his death in February 1945. The dossier, which includes a ts Japanese instruction authorising 'amusing hours' at Sandakan (May 1943) and Waterhouse's death certificate, purportedly signed by a Japanese medical officer (February 1945), is accompanied by a file of photocopies of the letters and other official communications, 25 February 1942 - 25 July 1949, received by his wife in Swinton, Lancashire from the Air Ministry, the RAF Record Office, the British Red Cross Society, the Ministry of Pensions and the Imperial War Graves Commission when he was posted missing, while he was a prisoner of war and after the official news of his death, together with colour photocopies of the five postcards that he was permitted to send home during his captivity.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 2000-11