Original manuscript of "Soldier Surgeon in Malaya" by former prisoner of war, Dr Thomas Hamilton

Title
Original manuscript of "Soldier Surgeon in Malaya" by former prisoner of war, Dr Thomas Hamilton
Year/Period
c1950s
Region
Singapore and Australia
Dimension
Object size: 35.5 x 22.7 x 4.1 cm
Accession No.
2019-00656
Credit Line
Donated by Campbell Charlton, grandson of Dr Thomas Hamilton

This handwritten manuscript of the book titled “Soldier Surgeon in Malaya” by former prisoner of war (POW), Dr Thomas Hamilton, was first published in 1957. As with many POW diaries, it was written secretly and in this instance, the entries were undertaken in POW camps in Changi and along the Burma-Thailand Railway. During a search campaign in 1943, Dr Hamilton consigned the war diary to the care of a dental surgeon who in turn, committed it to the sanctuary of a compatriot’s grave in Burma. After the war, the diary was unearthed and returned to the author who managed to rewrite it for this manuscript and the book subsequently. Dr Hamilton enlisted into the Australian Imperial Forces on 17 October 1940. He went to Malaya in 1941 as the Commanding Officer of the 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station of the 8th Division in Malaya and Singapore, to support the Allied fighting troops during the withdrawal down the Malayan Peninsular. The unit members became POWs following the British surrender in February 1942. As a POW at Roberts Hospital in Changi, Dr Hamilton was in charge of a ward of about 100 wounded men. In May 1942, Dr Hamilton was sent to Burma together with many of his unit members to work on the construction of the Burma Thailand Railway. He was in the vicinity of Kanchanaburi in Thailand when the war ended and was discharged from the Army on 11 February 1946.