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5827757
Private
Ronald Charles Thurston
Known as Ronald Bert
Born 1919/09/18, Cambridge
Son of Bert and Louise
Brother to Doris, Gladys, Lily, Winnie and Charlie
Father Bert worked for Mr S Gentle Contractors, Cambridge
Ronald’s occupation Brick Maker
1939 - Married Phyllis E. Creek, Cambridge
1939/12/15 - Enlisted
Next of Kin - Wife, Phyllis, High Street, Little Shelford, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire Regiment
1st Battalion
18th Division HQ
Service
1st Cambridgeshire Regiment at Lichfield in 1941
The Cambridgeshire Regiments had a fighting reputation and were nicknamed ‘The Fen Tigers’.
1941/10/30 - Left Britain in ‘Orcades’ with Convoy CT.5 from Liverpool to Halifax
Final Destination Unknown
1941/11/08 - Arrived Halifax
1941/11/10 - Transferred to USS West Point with the 55th Infantry Brigade. Departed Halifax in Convoy William Sail 12X.
Convoy William Sail 12X continued with six American troopships, two cruisers, eight destroyers and the aircraft carrier Ranger, the Convoy William Sail 12X was under way, destination still unknown.
The convoy passed through the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and St Domingo.
1941/11/17 - Arrived at Trinidad in glorious sunshine so troops changed to tropical kit, but no shore-leave, left Trinidad after two days of taking on supplies.
1941/11/24 - The equator was crossed, there was a crossing the line ceremony.
After a month the convoy arrived at Cape Town, South Africa. By this time the Americans were in the war as the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbour and attacked Malaya and the rumours were that they were heading for the Far East and not the Middle East as first thought.
1941/12/08 - Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and Malaya
1941/12/13 - The convoy left Cape Town and sailed along the coast of East Africa past Madagascar and into the Indian Ocean heading for Bombay.
1941/12/27 - After 17,011 miles at sea Bombay was reached.
1942/01/18 - The convoy sailed with a British escort, the H.M.S. Exeter and H.M.S. Glasgow with British and Australian destroyers. Destination was the Far East. Passing Colombo, (Ceylon), crossing the equator for the third time, the convoy passed through the Sundra Straits between Java and Sumatra and then the Banka Straits. The convoy was then bombed by Japanese Planes, there was no damage.
1942/01/29 - The convoy reached the safety of Keppel Harbour, Singapore. Ships were ablaze in the harbour, clouds of smoke drifted across the sky and the smell of fumes was overpowering, this was not the best of greetings. The Japanese had taken most of Malaya in the last three weeks and were only thirty miles away from Singapore.
The day after the 1st Battalion arrived the causeway over the Strait of Jahore which linked Singapore to Malaya was destroyed. This did not delay the Japanese who landed at the North West of Singapore Island near midnight on the 8th February.
Adam Park, Singapore
The Battalion fought at the Sime Road Camp in Singapore defending Adam Park . For three days ‘The Fen Tigers’ held up the Japanese 41st Fukuyama, Regiment, which was part of the Japanese 5th Division. The fighting was intense but on the 15th February the 1st Battalion CO, Lt-Col. Carpenter, finding the Japanese bypassing his position, requested permission to withdraw from Brigade HQ. he was told to hold the position and lay down their arms as Singapore had surrendered.
1942/05/13 - WO 417/43, Casualty List No. 822. Reported ‘Missing’.
1943/06/21 - WO 417/62, Casualty List No 1166. Previously posted on Casualty List No 822 Missing now reported Prisoner of War.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
PoW No. M-6160
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1943/03/20 - Transported overland to Thailand with ‘D’ Force, train 6
Commander Lt-Col. G.G. Carpenter, 1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment
With Lt-Col. McEachern, AIF
Attached to Group 1
New PoW No. 26482
Working at Kinsaiyo
1943, August - Evacuated to Kanchanaburi Hospital in .
Next to Nong Pladuk
1944, July - Transported overland back to Singapore
1945/12/19 - Transported Oversea to Saigon, French Indo-China
239 British PoWs
1945/01/05 - Arrived Saigon, Camp 10
Commander Lt-Col. Gill
New PoW No. 45020
Camp 10 was situated on the Rue Catinat, which was a main thoroughfare between the native quarter and the French quarter. The huts were of timber construction except for the hospital which was of bamboo structure with an attapi roof. All the huts had electric light.
Rice was still their main diet but they now received meat twice a week and eggs to buy in the canteen, within no time their weight improved.
1945/09/12 - Liberated Saigon Camp 10
Flown via Bangkok to Rangoon to be repatriated by ship to the UK
Liberation Questionnaire
1945/11/30 - WO417/99, Casualty List No. 1924. Previously reported on Casualty List No. 1166 as Prisoner of War now ‘Not Prisoner of Wa’r. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya.
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Post War
Ronald and Phyllis were blessed with Adrian Charles, born 18th January 1949
1986 - Granddaughter Tracie with Ronald in Hospital
Ronald had to have both legs amputated and he spent the last nine months of his life in St Dunstan Hospital, for veterans in Brighton.
Died
Age 67
1986, St Dunstan Hospital, Brighton
Information
Tracie - Granddaughter
Jon Cooper - ‘Tigers in the Park’ The Adam Park Project
Andrew Snow - Thailand Burma Railway Centre
1st Ballalion Cambridgeshires
Cambridgeshire Regiment by the late David Langton
Convoy William Sail 12X
Malaya and Singapore
Thailand-Burma Railway
Liberation Questionnair
KEW Files:- WO 345/51, WO 367/3, WO 361/2005, WO 361/2027, WO 361/2179, WO 392/36, WO 361/2070, WO 361/2005,
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