Wallet 1 of 1 - Letters from Leonard Stanley Marquis to his mother, Amy Edith Marquis, 1945

Collection relating to the Second World War service of 26405 Flying Officer Leonard Stanley Marquis, Royal Australian Air Force, Allied Translator and Interpreter Service, Pacific Islands and HMAS Diamantina, 1945.

Wallet 1 of 1 - Collection consists of three letters from Flying Officer Marquis to his mother, Amy Edith Marquis, dated between 17 September and 5 October 1945. Flying Officer Marquis was in Brigadier John Rowlstone Stevenson’s party for the acceptance of the surrender of the Japanese forces on Nauru and Ocean Islands. In his letters to his mother, Marquis shares in detail some of his experiences, including life on the ship, preparing the translation of the surrender agreement, interviewing Japanese officers, inspecting the disarmed Japanese bases, translation of the surrender agreement ceremony at Nauru, assisting in the preparation of reports, eagerness to have leave and visit home, hearing a variety of stories of both Japanese officers and local people, viewing a moving picture on shore, witnessing a cricket match between the crew of the HMAS Diamantina and the local people, buying items at an American canteen, the sinking of an abandoned barge, translating the surrender agreement at Ocean Island, receiving a pair of binoculars from a Japanese officer and having an informal conversation with him, returning to Nauru and Bougainville, and looking forward to reading the next batch of his mother’s letters.

[Note that the second two letters are written on the facing pages, followed by the reverse pages. This creates an apparent page order of 1, 14, 2, 15... when reading the leaves in verso-recto order. The digital images here have retained this original order.]