Description
Object description
Two very detailed manuscript diaries, 13 March 1942 - 2 June 1944, and 3 June 1944 - 15 September 1945, covering his experiences, as an officer in the 3rd Battalion Federated Malay States Volunteer Force (FMSVF), as a prisoner of war in Changi, Singapore, up to November 1942, including the Selarang Incident, and then in Thailand, with Group IV, in camps in Kanyu (December 1942 - August 1943), Hintok River (August - September 1943), Kinsayu (September 1943 - March 1944), Tahuang (March 1944 - January 1945), Kanburi (January - May 1945), and Nakom Nyok (May - August 1945), and throughout contain graphic and chilling descriptions of the battle which he and fellow prisoners fought to survive in the face of Japanese brutality and indifference, long hours of hard manual work, totally inadequate food and accommodation, and disease; an unpublished typescript memoir entitled 'For Most Men' (c. 386pp), written in 1951-1962, based on the diaries, and conveying his anger about the treatment of the prisoners of war employed on the Thailand-Burma railway; a small notebook compiled in captivity containing details of conjuring/magic tricks; typed copies of reports in Malayan newspapers in 1946 on war crimes trials relating to the Burma-Siam railway; the April 1946 issue of Blackwood's Magazine in which an article on the railway was published; and two photographs of the execution of Japanese Lieutenant Nakamura for war crimes (March 1946).
Content description
Two very detailed manuscript diaries, 13 March 1942 - 2 June 1944, and 3 June 1944 - 15 September 1945, covering his experiences, as an officer in the 3rd Battalion Federated Malay States Volunteer Force (FMSVF), as a prisoner of war in Changi, Singapore, up to November 1942, including the Selarang Incident, and then in Thailand, with Group IV, in camps in Kanyu (December 1942 - August 1943), Hintok River (August - September 1943), Kinsayu (September 1943 - March 1944), Tahuang (March 1944 - January 1945), Kanburi (January - May 1945), and Nakom Nyok (May - August 1945), and throughout contain graphic and chilling descriptions of the battle which he and fellow prisoners fought to survive in the face of Japanese brutality and indifference, long hours of hard manual work, totally inadequate food and accommodation, and disease; an unpublished typescript memoir entitled 'For Most Men' (c. 386pp), written in 1951-1962, based on the diaries, and conveying his anger about the treatment of the prisoners of war employed on the Thailand-Burma railway; a small notebook compiled in captivity containing details of conjuring/magic tricks; typed copies of reports in Malayan newspapers in 1946 on war crimes trials relating to the Burma-Siam railway; the April 1946 issue of Blackwood's Magazine in which an article on the railway was published; and two photographs of the execution of Japanese Lieutenant Nakamura for war crimes (March 1946).
History note
Cataloguer RWAS