Description
Object description
Photocopies of a contemporaneous ms outline record (11pp) for the period November 1941 - September 1945, and an expanded ms account (26pp) for November 1941 - May 1942 only, written by a private in the 1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment (18th Division), probably during or just after his period of captivity, together with a ts transcribed account (5pp) based on these two documents, covering in good detail his passage on the troopships ORCADES and USS WEST POINT from the United Kingdom to Singapore via Nova Scotia, South Africa and India (November 1941 - January 1942), the fierce fighting in which his Battalion took part on Singapore island in the final days before the surrender (February 1942) and, in more summary form, his time as a prisoner of war in Changi and River Valley Road camps in Singapore (February - October 1942), in various camps in Thailand (November 1942 - June 1944), on the prison ships ASAKA MARU and HAKUSAN MARU from Singapore to Japan (July - August 1944) and in Japan in the camps at Osaka (September 1944 - May 1945) and Omi (May - August 1945) and his liberation and the first stages of his repatriation (August - September 1945); together with photocopies of poems written by fellow prisoners of war, a tribute to Lieutenant Colonel G G Carpenter, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Cambridgeshires, two postcards written home by Back during his captivity (? June 1942 and May 1944), prisoner of war camp Christmas Day menus in 1942 and 1944, official correspondence relating to his capture and liberation, and photographs of him with his family and in uniform.
Content description
Photocopies of a contemporaneous ms outline record (11pp) for the period November 1941 - September 1945, and an expanded ms account (26pp) for November 1941 - May 1942 only, written by a private in the 1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment (18th Division), probably during or just after his period of captivity, together with a ts transcribed account (5pp) based on these two documents, covering in good detail his passage on the troopships ORCADES and USS WEST POINT from the United Kingdom to Singapore via Nova Scotia, South Africa and India (November 1941 - January 1942), the fierce fighting in which his Battalion took part on Singapore island in the final days before the surrender (February 1942) and, in more summary form, his time as a prisoner of war in Changi and River Valley Road camps in Singapore (February - October 1942), in various camps in Thailand (November 1942 - June 1944), on the prison ships ASAKA MARU and HAKUSAN MARU from Singapore to Japan (July - August 1944) and in Japan in the camps at Osaka (September 1944 - May 1945) and Omi (May - August 1945) and his liberation and the first stages of his repatriation (August - September 1945); together with photocopies of poems written by fellow prisoners of war, a tribute to Lieutenant Colonel G G Carpenter, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Cambridgeshires, two postcards written home by Back during his captivity (? June 1942 and May 1944), prisoner of war camp Christmas Day menus in 1942 and 1944, official correspondence relating to his capture and liberation, and photographs of him with his family and in uniform.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 2007-05