Description
Object description
British Territorial officer served with 87th Field Regt, Royal Artillery in GB 1938-1940. Adjutant of 1st Indian Anti-Aircraft Regt in India and Singapore 1941-1942; captured in Singapore 15/2/1942 . POW of Japanese in Singapore and Thailand 2/1942-8/1945; worked on Burma-Thailand railway
Content description
REEL 1 Pre-war background of law training and service with 87th Field Regt, RA, TA summer 1938; knowledge of Philip Toosey. Call-up 3/9/1939; posting of 87th to Suffolk Mar-11/1940 equipped with new 18 pdrs. Circumstances of posting to India 1/1941-8/1941: disruption to journey caused by Blitz 1/1941; convoy to Bombay; becoming adjutant 1st Indian Anti-Aircraft Regt; shortage of AA equipment; disorganisation of changes in unit composition before transfer to Singapore 8/1941; voyage aboard Empress of Scotland. Service based at Nee Soon in Singapore 8/1941-2/1942: plentiful equipment and level of training; lack of knowledge of terrain of Malaya peninsula; realisation of poor Allied air defences; dispersal of AA batteries around island; types of guns and inadequacy to reach Japanese aircraft; increasing air attacks; hopelessness of situation once Japanese invaded Singapore; feelings on arrival of 18th Div; destroying guns and equipment. REEL 2 Experiences as POW of Japanese in Singapore 2/1942-ca 7/1942: separation from Indian troops; thirst on march to Changi; accommodation and rationing at Changi, lack of water; POW activities including Changi 'university', visiting sick and sea bathing; detailing of working parties to Thailand. Experiences as POW in Ban Pong, Thailand Jul-10/1942: conditions on rail journey up-country; lack of opportunity to escape in hostile terrain; acclimatisation to rice diet; initial dry conditions at Ban Pong and later flooding; Elston's role as adjutant at Ban Pong arranging working parties to build Kanburi and Tamarkan camps; Toosey and his party passing through Ban Pong to Tamarkan 22/10/1942; move to Chungkai 10/1942. REEL 3 Experiences at Chungkai 10/1942-1943: knowledge of Toosey's presence at Tamarkan; trading for food with local people; nature of railway work; Colonel Williamson handing over camp control to Cary Owtram; Elston joining in working parties; method of building railway embankment; increasing Japanese requirements of work rate. Being sent up-country with Japanese engineers 1943: freedom but futility of escape attempts; camps worked at up railway line; bridge building work; rations; return to Chungkai. Move to Nakom Paton 1944: building camp as hospital. Transfer to Kanburi officers' camp 1/1945 [Toosey in camp at same time]. REEL 4 Aspects of POW experiences in Singapore and Thailand 1942-1945: question of officers' working; lack of officer insignia; differentiation of officer and other rank pay and POWs self-redistribution; question of Japanese attitude towards welfare of POWs in Thailand; inoculations received as POW; sending postcards out; strenuous physical efforts performed by POWs despite lack of nutrition; effects of POW experience on own physical fitness; how other POWs fared physically; Elston's general good health; giving blood for operations; surgeon with burst appendix; companionship keeping up morale; indiscriminate Japanese brutalities. REEL 5 Continues: attitude towards Japanese; accommodating their whims and their unpredictable personalites; camp wireless at Chungkai and news of progress of war; recreations at Changi, chess, Japanese attitude towards games and confiscation of books; futility of escape attempts; insects and vermin; lighting fires to ward off jungle wildlife; sleeping arrangements; hut accommodation; buying extra supplies from Boon Pong; opinion of padres; hearing news of dropping of atomic bomb at Nakom Nayok; present day feelings about Japanese; limited contact with Toosey including pre-war knowledge of him and hearing about him when at Chungkai.