"There...... but for the Grace of God....."

P.O.W SKETCHES
Here are some of Dad's sketches done during his P.O.W days from 1942 to 1945. He was supplied pencils and paper by Dutch nurses and bartered some of them with Japanese guards for packets of cigarettes. Dad drew many things, from the horrors that he saw to memories of home and even a yacht that he planned to build should he return. Although he did live to return, he never did build that yacht unfortunately, but I guess the dreams kept him alive!!

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After treasuring the drawings for so many years, in the excitement of being home again, Dad left the drawings on the plane in which he returned home. They were handed to an air hostess by a fellow P.O.W, to forward on to him but apparently the parcel was misplaced by the air hostess. She discovered it when she and her husband moved to Melbourne and they were sent to a Mr Roy Mc Cormack in Brisbane to find the owner. Finally after more than six years, they were returned to Dad.

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Click for a larger view.