Hi my name is Mark Howson, I wonder if anyone on here could be so kind in helping me or directing me in the right direction. I have recently discovered through family members and researching on forces war records that my great uncle Norman was in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. His full name was Norman Robinson he was born on 24th June 1920 in Rochdale Lancashire. Written in his file its says he was captured on 7th march 1942 but doesn't say where he was captured and the date of liberation was either on 9th September 1945 or 2nd September 1945 but yet again doesn't say where or who liberated the camp. He was in the RAF assigned to the Radio Installation Maintenance Unit of the rank of Leading Aircraftman, his service number was 1006980. It states in his file he was imprisoned on the island Java as well as a secondary POW camp in Wakayama Ikuno osaka 9b. I was told by a family member that they where all order to surrender at Singapore but not to sure how true that was. I wonder if you could help me find the information on the History of his travel to Singapore, what happened to him after the fall of Singapore, What POW camp was he in and possible some of his experiences during his time in these camps, where he was captured and where and who liberated the POW camp. I would be very grateful if anyone could reply to my thread hopefully with the relevant information or an idea of where i could find it.
Hi Mark. Welcome. I assume you've gotten your information from the MoD. If you haven't, I would suggest you do so. Also, you should post your query at our sister site ww2talk. They have a more British outlook and you might get more answers there. Best of luck with your research. Be sure to let us know what you discover.
Hi Mark You need to obtain his service records from the MOD - nowhere else will have them - the forms you need are on this link - Request records of deceased service personnel 7th March 1942 was the date, I believe that Java surrendered to the Japanese Suggest you register as mentioned above with the British & Commonwealth sister site at ww2talk.com. As a starter there is a thread recently started on the other site on similar lines - John Brennand 641337 RAF M.U.153 - Singapore - Java - Haruku or suggest you use the search engine to find more Good luck TD