239892 Pte. Fred Okell Dewison British Army 18th Division Royal Signal Corps from:Billingham My grandfather, Fred Dewison, was a driver in the 18th Divisional Signals. He was a POW in the Far East and worked on the Thai Burma railway. He enlisted at Catterick in November 1940 and sailed from Liverpool to Nova Scotia on the Reno del Pacifico on 28th of October 1941. Here he was transferred to the USS Wakefield (formerly the Manhattan) and finally arrived in Singapore on 29th of January 1942 (via Capetown and Bombay).
He was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore on 15th of February 1942 and was imprisoned in Changi until he was transferred to the railway, as part of Overland Letter Party O, on 3rd of November 1942.
I am trying to find out a little more about his time on the railway construction and the period afterwards (still in Thailand I believe). He was liberated in September 1945 and discharged in late 1945, following which he spent some time convalescing in hospital in Liverpool. He was moderately disabled as a result of his experiences, but led a full life until his death at the age of 78 in 1986.
I guess it's unlikely that anyone will still have recollection of Fred himself, but if anyone has any information about what happened to Letter Party O, I would be very interested.
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