Smith, Ronald Claude (Signalman, b.1915 - d.2006)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of NX36516 Signalman Ronald Claude Smith, 8 Division Signals, prisoner of war.

This collection consists of two copies of a 143-page typed manuscript, prepared in 1998, of transcribed letters Smith wrote to his wife, Sylvia, between May 1942 and October 1945 during his time as a prisoner of war of the Japanese and immediately following his liberation. In the preface, Smith explains that the original (unposted) letters were written on scraps of paper, dried leaves or bark and hidden until he could retrieve them at the end of the war. The letters are intimate and relay the hardship of wartime captivity, the difficult loss of communication with those at home, and Smith's longing to reunite with his wife. Smith discusses the living conditions at Selerang camp, his working conditions laying road and labouring in Singapore, the types and lack of food given to the prisoners and the efforts of the prisoners to grow or procure additional sustenance, his plans for the future, his fears that Sylvia will forget about him or move on, recreation, falling ill with malaria, and labouring on the Burma-Thailand Railway near Kanchanaburi as part of F Force. He also writes of camp hygiene, his perceptions of Dutch and British prisoners and senior officers, prisoner deaths and a suicide attempt by one man, his liberation, his anxiety at returning home an emaciated prisoner, and his reunion with Sylvia.

Wallet 1 of 2 - Contains one copy of manuscript, housed in one folder. This copy of the manuscript includes an additional preface.

Wallet 2 of 2 - Contains one copy of manuscript, housed in three folders. This copy of the manuscript includes several additional photographs.