Major Douglas Wilson Gillies

online resource

posted on 2024-06-05, 16:39 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

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.

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.

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.

History

Item list and details

Typed script of Douglas Wilson Gillies' diary Territorial decoration medal of Douglas Wilson Gillies These are medals awarded to Major Douglas Wilson Gillies

Person the story/items relate to

Douglas Wilson Gillies

Person who shared the story/items

Christopher John Gillies

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

Father

Type of submission

Shared at RGS Worcester Perrins Hall, Worcestershire on 16 June 2023.

Record ID

92544 | WOR009

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Keywords

Their Finest Hour World War Two

Licence

CC BY 4.0

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