Monday 24 March 2014

St Albans ex-POW reaches 100 - News - Herts Advertiser

St Albans ex-POW reaches 100 - News - Herts Advertiser:



'via Blog this'

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a brilliant revelation!
Captain Cyril William 'Bill' Pearson was one of the very brave men to take the incredibly adventurous decision to volunteer to man four ' left behind parties ' as the Japanese army swept down the Malayan peninsula. These were primarily civilian men - rubber planters, mining engineers , dredge masters, ships engineers on tin mines etc who knew the Malayan jungle, geography and climate well. Pearson was in the Perak Battalion of the Federated Malay States Volunteer Forces and then selected for a 'Left Behind Party' of five men, three of whom were killed within a few weeks in Pahang. He was captured and incarcerated in the infamous Pudu gaol with other POWS. Sent to with other POW s to the Burma railway he was arrested and tortured by the Japnese secret police 'Kempetai' - other POW's recorded his courage under torture. Pearson is now an almost unique survivor of that part of the War against the Japnese and has a story worth reading. Michael Pether, Auckland, NZ.

Unknown said...

Bill Pearson died on 21st October 2015 age 101yrs.
Tina Hibberd (Daughter).