Lest we forget ….
Whilst we are reflecting … I researched my late father’s brothers service history in WW2 :-
He was in a protected occupation , farm worker during the war , however due to a dispute with his employer over payment of his harvest bonus ( he was saving to get married ) , he resigned and enlisted with the Suffolk Regiment, he was quickly sent to Singapore where he was captured along with many others .
They were then forcibly worked on the infamous railway of death .
This he surprisingly survived , ( I have a number of post cards sent by him from his POW camp to my father via the Red Cross) .
A number of the younger and healthy members of regiment also survived this horrendous experience .
At the conclusion of the railway and very near to VJ Day the surviving POWs were being transported back to Japan to work, allegedly in mines .
The transport was a non Red Cross flagged vessel which was torpedoed by a USA submarine en route.
My uncle was alive floating on wreckage with a colleague ( who I spoke to whilst researching this sad account , he was the first hand source of this information , this gentleman has since died ) .
Unfortunately by the time the Sub surfaced to rescue survivors my uncle had succumbed to his resting place .
The names of the vessel and this incident is widely recorded and my late uncles details are recorded on the memorial at Changi .
I frequently reflect on this horror.
Finally as a small gesture to ensure his sacrifice and this terrible part of our history will not be forgotten by our family , I named my son after my late uncle .
My son is now in possession of the post cards sent from Changi , his posthumously awarded medal and all the research documentation and accounts .
Finally …… my son married in the village church in East Suffolk where the deceased and my family once resided ( as did I for many years ) the war memorial in that church records the details of his name sake who paid the ultimate price for his and our freedom.
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