Guestbook

I am a veteran of the RAF and I will be taking a trip to Kanchanaburi. I want to offer to place a cross as a mark of respect on any loved ones/comrades who did not return.
If anyone would like this, please send me names you would like to add to the cross

We Will Remember Them

Greetings

I wanted to let you and your members know about my father’s WWII diary, written while he was a POW of the Japanese in Changi, then Thailand. Dr. Edward Emery was a physician in the British Royal Army medical Corps when he was captured in Singapore in 1942. He kept the diary while he was incarcerated, most of it written during his time in Thailand, on the ‘Death Railway’ and then on the border with Burma. When he died in 2002 he left me the diary. After I read it, I was inspired to write a novel so that I could share in the pages more about the history of this terrible time which is so often unknown by people in the “West”.

I have just completed the novel, “Pursuit of the Golden Lily” and I am actively seeking a literary agent and publisher. However, if I have no luck, I shall self-publish in February 2016. In the meantime I am going to Thailand to permanently lend the diary to the Thailand Burma Railway Center in Kanchanaburi on November 13th 2015, where it will be on display forevermore. In order to do this I have started a fund raising campaign which I thought you might like to share with your members – not because I am seeking funds from you, it is more that I felt some of them might be interested to hear the story. Please take a look for yourselves then you can decide.

http://igg.me/at/jorotiR6R2M/x/10788757

I will be visiting Australia after Thailand and Malaya as my brother lives in Adelaide. My mother escaped Singapore on the last boat sailing to Australia in December 1941. She was pregnant at the time so my brother was born in Adelaide.

Thank you for your wonderful memorial Association. It is most informative and helpful. Going to the place where my father spent two years in dreadful captivity will be very poignant for me. The incredible sacrifice of so many is so much more evident in my heart after all the research I have done to complete my novel. Please let me know if I can give you any further information. I will be writing a BLOG during my journey.

Kind regards,

Rosie Emery

Rosie Emery

http://www.rosieemery.com

(239) 672 9507

Be the Change!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;

indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

My Uncle – Capt. Eddie Manley – Intelligence Officer – was captured and endured interrogation whilst working on the Burma Railway

Hi, i am trying to find info on a certain Sgt Wilfred Emery originally of 211 Sqdn R A F (bomber). he was captured on 08/03/1942 in Tasikmalaya, Java.
he spent time in camp Malang (singa sari), Ambon, Batavia, Bandoeng, before finally being released.
Any help is greatfully accepted

My uncle, Patrick Breen worked on the railway at Shimo Songkurai. He was later moved to Songkurai where he died from dysentery on the 22nd August 1943. He is buried at the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma.

My father was a POW on the Burma Railway. He arrived in Singapore and within 3 weeks
it fell to the Japanese. He survived and lived to the age of 76.

My late grand father Tom Hills was in the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion and a POW on the Burma railway for 3 years, he survived and returned home. I would love to know more including the name of the camp he was in, as there is no one left to ask now. I would like to write a family history story about Tom and his 3 years on the Burma railway. Sandra

WILLIAM JOHN HANIFORD – BILL(“KONK”)

My Uncle Bill served in the war with 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion. He was in River Valley Road Camp Singapore, Changi and worked the railway. If anybody has any stories or memories, please contact me. I have been very fortunate to locate some hand written letters to his mate Mr B Schmitt and have spoken to him too. I have recently read the book “The Prisoner List” and it gave me another insight into what these men endured. The website is wonderful. I am thankful to all of the men who served for us.

I found this web-site after having just finished Alistair Urqhart’s book ‘the forgotten highlander’. It is a marvellous addition (for me) to the pool of knowledge regarding this period of history.

If anyone doubts the importance and lasting effect of QLTs, this info will convince you. Out of our three years of Sunshine Coast, Qld students participating in the QLT 2006-2008, five young men are now serving in our Armed Forces – one in the Navy (formerly a Navy cadet) one in the RAAF and three in the Army (two former cadets). As their Mama Duck on those tours and continuing Facebook friend, I am so proud of them and I know that the lessons they learned on tour have stayed with them and influence their lives every day. Long may the QLTs continue to educate us all and keep the Aussie spirit alive.