| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | AWM2020.22.207 |
| Collection number | 3DRL/7917 |
| Collection type | Digitised Collection |
| Record type | Wallet |
| Item count | 1 |
| Object type | Letter |
| Physical description | 5 Image/s captured |
| Maker |
Tooke, William Albert |
| Place made | Australia: South Australia, Adelaide |
| Date made | 1945 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copying Provisions | Digital format and content protected by copyright. |
| Source credit to | This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government. |
Wallet 1 of 1 - Letter from William Albert Tooke to William James and Enid Clarke, 1945
Description
Collection relating to the Second World War service of 13135 Lieutenant William Albert Tooke, Federated Malay States Volunteer Force, Adelaide, 1945.
Wallet 1 of 1 - Wallet contains one handwritten letter written in 1945 by Lieutenant William Albert (Bill) Tooke, who was a Reserve with the Royal Artillery in Malaya and Singapore. Prior to the war, British-born Tooke had been working as a chemist at the Geological Survey Department and living with his family in Batu Gajah, Malaya, before his wife Nancy and daughter Sally, were evacuated to Australia. Upon British capitulation, Lieutenant Tooke became a prisoner of war of the Japanese and was sent to work on the Thai Burma Railway. After liberation, he came to Australia to be reunited with his wife and daughter before the family returned to live in Malaya. Tooke wrote his four page letter in October 1945 from Adelaide, South Australia, to his friends Jim (William James) and Enid Clarke of Victoria. Tooke writes about the rigours of life as a prisoner of war, as well as the arrival of news that the war had ended and his happiness at being reunited with his family.