Major Douglas Wilson Gillies

<p dir="ltr">Major Douglas Wilson Gillies was a prisoner of war in Singapore from 1942-1945. He started writing a letter/diary to his mother, describing the journey. There was a period of around a year with no entries as he was sent to work on the railways. The original manuscript is held in the Imperial War Museum. </p><p>His father missed the First World War as he was too young, but he did not want to miss the second. He was sent to France in September. Originally he was going to be sent to India, but the ship was diverted to avoid U-boats. </p><p>The contributor's father, Douglas Wilson Gillies, received the Territorial Decoration in 1947. He came home ill and infected. His injury took a long time to heal and for him to return to his job as a GP. He was later diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 57 in June 1960.</p>