Drummond, Alexander Hatton

Collection relating to the Second World War service of VX52775 Private (Pte) Alexander Hatton Drummond, who served with 2/29 Australian Infantry Battalion and became a prisoner of war (POW) of the Japanese. Includes a postcard, 2/29 Battalion Christmas card from Malaya, hand-drawn map of Burma-Thailand Railway, newspaper cuttings, 8th Division Old Comrades Association news-sheet, letter written to his mother, and a copy of a report on conditions faced by POWs in Thailand, and a handwritten manuscript titled 'The Naked Truth'. The manuscript was written by Alex Hatton (a pseudonym of Alexander Drummond) and frankly describes engagement with Japanese troops in Malaya, massacre of wounded Australian and Indian prisoners at Parit Sulong, Japanese attack on Singapore, women massacred on Banka Island, looting and brutality at Alexandra Hospital, attempts to evade capture through Java and Sumatra. Goes on to give accounts of experiences of prisoners-of-war of the Japanese at various camps, including Changi and Outram Gaol, Pudu Gaol (Kuala Lumpur), Tambazat (Borneo) and Kamburi (Thailand). Moving descriptions of treatment by Japanese, working parties, conduct of British and Australian officers, disease, starvation, extremes of human nature, and the Sandakan death marches. Added to this collection in September 2012 was a spiral bound typed transcription of the diaries kept by Pte Drummond from 1942-1945, compiled by his daughter, Josephine (Jo) Williams in 2001. Includes an introduction written by Jo Williams, a list of abbreviations used in the diaries, and photocopies of associated newspaper clippings, service records, letters, telegrams, photographs and other memorabilia. A page (p.172) in the manuscript appears to have been missed being typed which lists days 265 and 266 of the diary.