VJ DAY 80th Anniversary

The College Archivist, Suzanne Foster, reflects on VJ Day, 80 years on:

As Victory in Japan in 1945 also fell in the school holidays, the day hasn’t left much of a mark in our archives.  But we do know something about the experiences of those OWs who were either serving in Singapore or living in the area as civilians when the Japanese invaded in 1941.  At least 18 ended up as civilian prisoners or military POWs.

I’m afraid the stories are rather bleak but please do take a look if you are interested:

Clephan Bell (I, 1918-23), who died in 1942
Frank Norris (Coll, 1877-83), who died in a Japanese internment camp in China in July 1945
Graham White (E, 1898-1902), who died in May 1945 in an civilian internment camp in Singapore
Edward Bullock (F, 1926-32), who died as a POW in 1943 
Cyril Cartwright (Coll, 1924-30), who died as  POW in 1943

Kenneth Tomkinson (D, 1931-1936) was taken prisoner in 1942 and was held in various camps along the Burma Railway. We have a summary of some of his letters written to his family after he was liberated.

The last Wykehamist to die in conflict in the Far East was the Venerable Graham White (see above), who died on VE Day, 8 May 1945.  No Wykehamist died as a result of enemy action after VE Day, although six died in other theatres, of illness or as the result of accidents while on active service.

Those of you lucky enough already to own a copy of Shaun Hullis's excellent book A Noble Company can read (Chapter XXXII) about the experiences of Hopperites serving in the Far East as hostilities came to an end. A Noble Company is based upon the correspondence between Hopperites serving during the War and their housemaster, Malcolm (The Bobber) Robertson.  Please contact the office to obtain your copy.