Harper, Ernest (Staff Sergeant, b.1901 - d.1965)

The collection comprises principally letters from Staff Sergeant Ernest Harper (QX23961), 2/3 Ordnance Store Company, to his daughter Pamela while stationed in Malaya (1941-42) before the fall of Singapore when he was taken prisoner of war, and after his liberation in 1945; prisoner of war lettercards and official telegrams to his wife Eve (1942-45); and letters from Eve and Pamela to Harper written over 1942-45 but apparently never received, and letters from other family members. The correspondence is generally personal and concerns mainly family and domestic matters, including Pamela's upbringing and education, with limited focus on local events, wartime developments or Harper's duties or experiences. Eve's letters are noteworthy for their intimations of the domestic and emotional hardships caused by the absence of a husband and father at war. A diary/notebook with daily entries over 1941-45, probably written by Harper after the war, summarises his movements and experiences as a POW at camps in Thailand and Burma (such as Moulmein), and events, including the deaths of fellow prisoners and Allied bombing of the camps in 1944. There is a manuscript copy of the "Instruction to be Given to War Prisoners who are Quartered in the New No. 3 Branch of the Thai War Prisoners Camp at Thanbyuzayat [on the Burma-Thailand railway]", issued by the Japanese commandant, Nagatomo, with the signatures of prisoners. The collection also includes service documents and papers, photographs, identity tags and printed material.