Description
Object description
Exercise book containing a series of ms memoirs (43pp), written some time after 1958, describing very briefly his service as an aircraftman at an RAF station in Lincolnshire and his courtship with, and engagement to, a girl in Grimsby (1940 - 1941), his troopship voyage to the Middle East via South Africa and service in the Western Desert (September 1941 - January 1942), his troopship voyage with No 84 Squadron RAF to Sumatra (January - February 1942) and their immediate evacuation to Java and involvement in the fighting there until the surrender of the Netherlands East Indies (February - March 1942) and recording in greater detail his subsequent experiences as a prisoner of war in the camps at Djokjakarta (March - April 1942) and Sourabaya (May 1942 - April 1943) in Java, on a Japanese prison ship from Java to the Moluccas (April - May 1943), on airfield construction parties and in the camp hospital on Haroekoe (May 1943 - July 1944) and at Liang on Ambon (July - August 1944), on a Japanese prison ship back to Java via the Celebes (August - November 1944) and in camps in Java at Batavia (November 1944 - May 1945), Bandoeng (May - July 1945) and Batavia again, for working parties in Tandjong Priok docks (July - August 1945), his evacuation to Singapore following their liberation and repatriation on the CILICIA (September - October 1945). The memoirs, which are accompanied by a photograph of him taken in 1981, include useful references to comradeship in the services, the high morale of the prisoners at the outset of their captivity despite their many privations, the appalling conditions on Haroekoe and Japanese prison ships, the harsh routine of working parties and Allied air raids on the Moluccas and Celebes.
Content description
Exercise book containing a series of ms memoirs (43pp), written some time after 1958, describing very briefly his service as an aircraftman at an RAF station in Lincolnshire and his courtship with, and engagement to, a girl in Grimsby (1940 - 1941), his troopship voyage to the Middle East via South Africa and service in the Western Desert (September 1941 - January 1942), his troopship voyage with No 84 Squadron RAF to Sumatra (January - February 1942) and their immediate evacuation to Java and involvement in the fighting there until the surrender of the Netherlands East Indies (February - March 1942) and recording in greater detail his subsequent experiences as a prisoner of war in the camps at Djokjakarta (March - April 1942) and Sourabaya (May 1942 - April 1943) in Java, on a Japanese prison ship from Java to the Moluccas (April - May 1943), on airfield construction parties and in the camp hospital on Haroekoe (May 1943 - July 1944) and at Liang on Ambon (July - August 1944), on a Japanese prison ship back to Java via the Celebes (August - November 1944) and in camps in Java at Batavia (November 1944 - May 1945), Bandoeng (May - July 1945) and Batavia again, for working parties in Tandjong Priok docks (July - August 1945), his evacuation to Singapore following their liberation and repatriation on the CILICIA (September - October 1945). The memoirs, which are accompanied by a photograph of him taken in 1981, include useful references to comradeship in the services, the high morale of the prisoners at the outset of their captivity despite their many privations, the appalling conditions on Haroekoe and Japanese prison ships, the harsh routine of working parties and Allied air raids on the Moluccas and Celebes.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 2002-12