T-A Holmes

Photocopies of a ts transcript of: two diary letters (12pp) written in July and December 1942 by a Staff Sergeant in the RAOC when he was a prisoner of war in Tandjong Priok camp, Java describing his troopship voyage via South Africa to Java (December 1941 - January 1942) and the surrender of his unit (No 20 Base Ordnance Depot) to the Japanese and commenting on the problems of ill health, boredom, low morale and lack of contact with their families experienced by him and his fellow prisoners; of a letter (1p) written in March 1943 'in response to Nipponese demand' complaining diplomatically about conditions in Tandjong Priok camp; and of an account (5pp), written in September 1945, summarising his illness in captivity, the extremely harsh conditions during his voyage in a Japanese prison ship from Java to Sumatra and in Pankalem Bali prisoner of war camp in Sumatra (November 1943 - May 1945) and in contrast, the 'really quite good' conditions in Changi camp, Singapore in the months up to the liberation (May - September 1945).

Unrestricted

Holmes, a Staff Sergeant with the RAOC, was captured on Java when it fell to the Japanese on 8 March 1942 and was imprisoned in Tandjon-Priok Camp and later 'Bicycle Barracks' before being sent to Palembang on Sumatra in November 1943 and to Changi on Singapore in May 1945.