What happened to this man and where was he held. A lovely old lady asked me to find out what happened to her husband whilst I was visiting her a couple of months ago and it just came to mind whilst on line. Any info much appreciated. All she could remember was that he was in Burma as a prisoner during the war.
I take it he survived the war? Any idea of unit? As his widow your acquaintance would be entitled to a copy of his service records free of charge from MOD. Request records of deceased service personnel
There is a Russell M. Callaghan listed as a POW. Looks like a Singapore capture from his dates. From WO392/23:
Using Bamboo43 info. 2339512 Russell Callaghan, born 1912. captured 15.2.42. Held in Changi Singapore. Transferred overland in F.Force.April 1943..1944 listed as POW Malaya old card number 1/1798, new card Number 2670. he served with 9th Ind Div signals. found no other R Callaghans that fit info given.
Just found another doc. He was back in Changi dated 5th September 1945. Also F.Force went to Thailand as working party
This is the only pow card I could find for a Russell Callaghan: Page 1 UK, Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 - Fold3
Sorry guys Wife's watching emmerdale and it kind of takes over. You don't mess around do you? She was saying today on the phone that he was never bitter about his experience during the war unlike some men. Seems he was prisoner for a very long time.
You can get a good description of "F" Force free from Australian Archives, who have digitised and made a free download of a report on the Australian "component" of "F" Force. Search for "Australian Archives", go to " Record Search", search for " F Force" limited to dates 1943-1944 and click on the digitised item column. It will come up three or four down. It's a 9.3 mb download, 75 pages. This is the Australian Archives document description. { If using the "Advanced Search" facility just put in the Barcode 3175356. } ( "Emmerdale" it isn't.) " NAA: A4311, 658/4 Series number: A4311 Control symbol: 658/4 Barcode: 3175356 Number of pages: 75 "
Way more interesting! And that's without seeing it I'll take a look in a bit. Thanks for that papiermache
