´óÏó´«Ã½

He was like a Big Brother to me. He joined in 1940. He joined with three workmates. They were all pals. Two of his mates passed the medical test but he didn’t. So what they did — he waited and didn’t go with his mates. Eventually he ended up with the 287 Field Co and sent to Singapore. In those days boats had to take the long way around South Africa. He came off the boat because of suspected appendicitis, but they found out it wasn’t , he then continued on to Singapore where his boat was taken by the Japanese. They did get a Red Cross message to say he was a POW otherwise there was no contact. My mum then got a telegram to say he’d died from Beri Beri on 1/7/1945. We didn’t know where he was buried but traced him in October 2005.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Joanne Brown a volunteer with WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of Eric Tolliday and has been added to the site with his permission. Eric Tolliday fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.