Quote:
Originally Posted by John Rogers
Harry,
Thanks for your kind reply. If you are interested I have a follow-up to the story.
John.
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Yes, John, I'd be pleased to read it. These stories are precious.
This week I've a carpenter working for me who, when he heard I was writing memoir, said that his father-in-law was pow of the Japanese in Burma and is now coming out with stories in his old age. There's not so many of those fellows around - I hope someone is making notes.
I have the unpublished account (the writer calls it 'One Jump Ahead') of an RNVR/MN officer (first mate of The Vyner Brooke) (uncle of an old MN friend) who escaped from Singapore and traversed the Dutch East Indies swamps till he reached Australia. I don't know if I have the years left to publish his story, so I've lodged copies of the manuscript with the British War Museum and Australian Memorial archives. He throws further light on the murder of Australian nurses by the Japanese as they struggled ashore in Sumatra.
I just wish I'd shown a bit of interest in my father's experiences at the Somme - but he did not survive beyond my teenage years.