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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: Whipby on Friday 01 January 16 14:05 GMT (UK)

Title: Can anyone read ... not sure if it's Japanese/Chinese or some other?
Post by: Whipby on Friday 01 January 16 14:05 GMT (UK)
Is anyone able to decipher these notes on this card which details my great uncle's capture in February 1942 at Singapore during the second world war?

Many thanks, and I live in hope!

Title: Re: Can anyone read ... not sure if it's Japanese/Chinese or some other?
Post by: Bookbox on Friday 01 January 16 15:08 GMT (UK)
In case it helps, TNA's research guide on British POWs in WW2 ...
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-prisoners-second-world-war-korean-war/#7-british-prisoners-of-war-in-the-far-east-1939-1945

... recommends a Dutch National Archives guide to translating Japanese POW cards
https://www.gahetna.nl/sites/default/files/bijlagen/stamp_list_logo.pdf

Good luck!  :)

Title: Re: Can anyone read ... not sure if it's Japanese/Chinese or some other?
Post by: Whipby on Saturday 02 January 16 21:00 GMT (UK)
Thank you, Bookbox, I'll check these out!  Much appreciated.
Title: Re: Can anyone read ... not sure if it's Japanese/Chinese or some other?
Post by: Galium on Saturday 02 January 16 22:18 GMT (UK)
If it's any help, a family member who is studying Japanese (which is what it is) says that it reads along the lines of:
21 October Showa 17 (1942) Japan-Thailand POW camp transfer of control (can't read characters) station departure


Showa refers to the reign of Emperor Hirohito, which began in 1926, so 1942 is the 17th year of his reign.
Title: Re: Can anyone read ... not sure if it's Japanese/Chinese or some other?
Post by: Whipby on Sunday 03 January 16 17:21 GMT (UK)
Thank you very much, Galium (and your friend!), that's really helpful!

I did wonder myself whether the figure 17 related to the year of a certain emperor's reign, because there is a similar set of figures on the front of the card, including the number 17, which have helpfully been translated, and they are a date earlier in 1942.

So that confirms what I was thinking.

I've also looked closely at the two lines, and it seems to me that the second line is largely a repeat of the first line, but slightly offset, and with one or two symbols missing.  The bottom line being written more neatly than the top line, which to me has the look of a 'rubber stamp' about it, with the images being fuzzy and blurred, as though the ink has bled.

I wonder, now, what is the meaning of 'transfer of control' and 'station departure'?  I wonder whether my great uncle was being transferred to another camp?

I do know he worked on the so called Death Railway.  He never spoke of this to me, and only a little bit to my parents, virtually nothing.  Must have been a terrible, harrowing time that he was lucky to survive.

Thanks again!

Title: Re: Can anyone read ... not sure if it's Japanese/Chinese or some other?
Post by: NgLiuYin on Sunday 20 December 20 17:02 GMT (UK)
The second line seemed to suggest that he was transferred to the Second Branch the following year (Showa 18).