Letter to the editor
In reference to the article in the December 2023 issue of Vetaffairs ‘Remembering the Burma-Thailand Railway 80 years on'. During my service with the RAAF in Thailand from February 67 to August 68 I visited the war graves cemetery outside of Bangkok where I noticed a grave marker for a Corporal from a town “via Gerrigong” which is not far from my home town of Nowra. I took photos of the headstone and his listing on the honour roll (sorry can’t remember his name).
When I returned to Australia, I contacted the local RSL and they were able to trace his family who called at my parents’ home to collect the photos. During the war, the family received advice that he was “missing in action” but at the end of the war they were advised that he was “presumed dead, possibly at the POW camp in Singapore”. The family were very happy to know their relative had a “resting place” after all these years. Sometimes just the smallest act can make a big difference.
Regards
Bob Stanley (Ex WOOFF RAAF)