| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | MSS0811 |
| Collection type | Manuscript |
| Measurement | 1 item |
| Object type | Typescript |
| Maker |
Leemon, Jack Holder |
| Date made | 1942-1945 |
| Access | Open |
| Related File This file can be copied or viewed via the Memorial’s Reading Room. | AWM371 89/1124 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
Leemon, Jack Holder (Lieutenant, b.1910 - d.1962)
Description
"The Body Snatchers" typescript account of Leemon's service with 26th War Graves Registration and inquiry units in Australia, New Guinea, Burma and Thailand. He provides a detailed account of the role of the unit and the methods they used to identify bodies, the exhumation process, and reburial; mentions the role of the local people in location of cemeteries and graves, the role of the ANGAU controllers and the surrendered Japanese. It is detailed and well written providing a good account of post war Singapore, Bangkok (including the behaviour of liberated prisoners of war), Rangoon and the September 1945 trip to survey the grave locations along the Burma Thailand Railway including Thanbyuzayat and Kanchanaburi, with Padre Babb, Jack Sherman and others. This section includes comment on the condition of the cemeteries and the recovery of buried records. He also mentions the role of conscripted coolie labour and their death rate. Also see Padre Babb's account at 3DRL/6012(A).