大象传媒

My father鈥檚 half brother, Ron was a Royal Naval gun crew able seaman on the HMS Prince of Wales when it was attacked along with the ship HMS Repulse. Dad鈥檚 cousin, Willy was on HMS Repulse. The date was 10th December, 1941. Both ships were sunk by Japanese bombers and torpedo planes.

Willy was rescued by a British ship. Ron survived in the water but was picked up by a Japanese patrol boat and he spent the rest of the war in a Japanese POW camp, near the Bridge over the River Kwai in Malaya. He was lucky to come out of that with his life. However, a telegram from the War Office was sent to his mother (my grandma)telling her that they believed that he had been killed in action. At the end of the war he came home believing that his family had been told that he was safe and well. The War Department had failed to tell them that he was alive and one day when she came back into the house, she walked into the living room and Ron was sitting in a chair waiting for everyone. His mother fainted when she saw him and all the family were in a state of shock when they saw him sitting there.

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