Hi all, Brand new here and just wanted to say hi. My late grandfather was a medical assistant attached to one of the hospitals in the Straits Settlements at the time (Penang General Hospital) and was sent to one of the POW camps on the Thai Burma railway. My family has been on the hunt for which particular camp he was at, however information regarding non-POW people seems to be sorely absent. He received postcards after the war from an Aussie POW whom we believe he met at camp - so I have been working backwards from there, and while on the hunt for information regarding the Thai Burma Railway and its POW camps, came across this hugely informative forum - so thank you for existing!
Hi Welcome Perhaps if you start a new thread specifically for your late grandfather and provide details then others can join in and hopefully give you some answers. Do you also have details of the Aussie POW as some menbers may be able to check Australian records TD
Welcome. Your best lead into the records will be at the National Archives at Kew by looking out the appropriate index volume for the hospital records in WO 347 under both your late grandfather's name ( he probably needed treatment himself or gave a blood transfusion ) or the index for the name of the Australian Soldier. This will give you a date and a camp. There were main hospital camps, for example at Chungkai or Kanchanaburi. For example: Reference: WO 347/153 Description: Index volume 94: Peard, R - Peter, T A H Date: 1942 Feb 01 - 1945 Sep 30 Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Access conditions: Open on Transfer Record opening date: 23 May 2015 Good hunting, John
Thank you Tricky, I will be sure to do that and add the details of the Aussie POW as well Hopefully the research gurus here can turn up more than I managed to!! I unfortunately did not manage to find any records under WO 347 for either the Aussie POW or my grandfather, but thank you very much for the information about National Archives - I will try some other various combinations to see if I manage to locate something!
