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  • Japanese war records

    Help...
    I need a lot of help translating Japanese. I have just found on FMP the Japanese records of two brothers ( cousins if mine) who were captured by the Japanese in Singapore in WW2.
    Trying to make sense of them is driving me mad. I understand from Mr Google that a japanese date is written backwards ie year/month/day, on the attached record the date of capture is 17/2/11, but has presumably been ovewritten in English as 15th Feb 1942. How can one equate to the other?
    Also what is the date in the 'Camp' section supposed to be and mean?

    Small copy William Prisoners of War 1715-1945 A GBM_POW-GALLIP_1-1-76_01313.jpg
    DGJay

  • #2
    I think the day is listed as 15 not 11- the final figure looks to me to be a 5 not a 1.
    The 17 for year instead of 1942 equates to the Japanese calendar - see here http://www.ewc.co.jp/Pages/Information/CalendarEN.aspx
    Judith passed away in October 2018

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    • #3
      Many thanks for that, yes it could well be the 15th as his brother , who was in the same regiment, was also captured on the 15th. (presumably that was the day that the regiment surrendered).
      Any suggestions about the date in the 'camp' entry, only thing that I can think of is that he was transferred to another camp on 15th Aug 1942 from Camp 4D.
      ps. or to camp 4D wherever that was.
      Last edited by DgJay; 26-12-16, 17:02. Reason: added ps
      DGJay

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      • #4
        PS and many thanks to you for posting this as it prompted me to look for 2 members of my own family who died having been captured by the Japanese - I found similar cards for both of them plus listings which gave the causes of their deaths in the camps. Coincidentally my dad's cousin Harry Harper was also captured on 15th Feb 1942 and was in camp 4D, which I believe was in Thailand and was where he died in 1944.
        Judith passed away in October 2018

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        • #5
          Judith
          I have since found that 15th February 1942 was in actual fact the day the whole of the British forces surrendered to the Japanese in Singapore.
          Just in case I'm lucky, where did you find the listings for the causes of death ?
          I knew that William had died at Kanchanaburi, so was probably working on the railway before he died but his brother Alfred is just commemorated on the Singapore Memorial so I don't know his death location.
          Annoying part is that I was in Thailand about 10 years ago and visited the railway / museum / cemetery etc at Kanchanaburi as well as Singapore on a another occasion, but at that time I hadn't discovered the details about them.
          Last edited by DgJay; 26-12-16, 21:35.
          DGJay

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          • #6
            Ah yes, I should have realised the date was when the British surrendered. I found the pages listing causes of death on FMP in the same set as the records like the one you posted. Here's the one for my dad's cousin Harry http://search.findmypast.co.uk/recor...hlights=%22%22
            I don't know whether such records exist for all the prisoners who died.
            Judith passed away in October 2018

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            • #7
              If the person whom you are researching has a distinctive name - such as my uncle: Charles Albert William Cartland - just put the name in google, with or without WWII after the name. By putting his name in google, the first three sites concern him, and there are others later.
              Joy

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