Radio receiver : Signalman S Sim, 8 Division Corps of Signals

Small, handmade, bare metal, receiving only radio. The radio is constructed from sheet metal and scavenged parts. Mounted at the front are five black bakelite control knobs, an on/off switch and a single headphone jack. At the rear there are terminals which can be wired to a power source. The aluminium on the top of the radio is impressed 'THE CROWN PURE ALUMINIUM MADE IN ENGLAND'. 'MALAYA SINGAPORE' is also scratched into the aluminium.

This radio was improvised from scavenged parts obtained by NX71306 Signalman Sydney Sim during his imprisonment at Changi Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War. Born in Sydney in 1920, Sim enlisted in March 1941 and was assigned to 8 Division Corps of Signals. He became a POW after the Japanese captured Singapore in February 1942. Once he had made this radio, news from the broadcasts he was able to receive were typed onto paper and circulated in secret to his fellow prisoners in Changi. His enterprise was risky, as POWs found in possession of a radio by the Japanese were summarily executed. Sim was awarded a British Empire Medal in 1946 for his 'valuable service and devotion' in operating the radio while in captivity.