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1578301
Gunner
Bernard Lewis White
1920/06/21 - Born Abertillery. Monmouthshire
Son of Edwin George White (Age 30) and Lilla Maud Jasper Lewis (Age 27)
1939 - Enlisted
Royal Artillery
7 Coast Regiment
Service
1942/03/10 - WO 417/39, Casualty List No.767. Missing.
1943/08/16 - WO 417/64, Casualty List No. 1213. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 767 as Missing, now reported Prisoner of War.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
PoW No. M-2197
Japanese PoW Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1942/10/23 - Transported overland in ‘Z’ Letter Party to Thailand
Made up from 3rd Corps and 11th Division
Commander Lt-Col. E.W.F. Jephson, 5th Field Regiment, RA, HQ 11th Div.
Work Force 4
New PoW No. IV 13971
Non Pladuk
By hospital records from The Thailand-Burma Railway Centre
Hospital Admissions:-
1 at Kanchanaburi
2 at Nakhon Pathom
3 at Tha Muang
4 at Pratchai
New PoW No. IV 16854
1945/09/01 - Liberated Pratchai, Thailand
1945/09/21 - WO417/96_2, Casualty List No. 1864. Previously reported on Casualty List No. 1213 as Prisoner of War now Not Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya.
In Japanese Hands
St. Davids Day Leek Says Cwmtillery Man
 “No work to-day. much to our sorrow. Japanese war finished,” said a gloomy faced Japanese commandant to a band of British prisoners of war.
This was the first intimation Gunner Bernard White, R.A., of 19 Gwern Berthi Road, Cwmtillery, had that his weary internment of 3.5 years was at an end.
Taken prisoner at Singapore in February 1942, he was placed in a working party to construct the Siam-Burma railway. Working hours were unbelievably long - from six in the morning to as late as midnight, with only brief breaks for midday and evening meals. Even these few meals were insubstantial, and consisted only of rice and boiled water, with occasionally a meal of maize.
Sick men cultivated a lot of ground, and grew leek and spinach. Every St. David’s Day all the men wore a leek.
“Japanese Drill”
Repairs to their ragged clothing were difficult, and could be managed only by a kind of “lease-land” of needles and cotton. All the men were forced to do “Japanese Drill,” and had to sleep on rice sacks. Only once did they receive Red Cross parcels, and even on that occasion each parcel had to be shared between 19 men.
Before the war Gunner White worked as a collier at Cwmtillery Colliery, and in honour of his return the Union Jack flew at the pithead.
Gunner White’s family are all prominent with St. John Ambulance Division at Abertillery. His father, Mr Edward White, is a sergeant in the division, his mother is Lady Superintendent of the Nursing Division, his brother, Private W. White, is an ambulance man, and Gunner White was himself a private in the Division before he enlisted.
Post War
1951/06/ - Bernard married Iris May Vowels at Bedwelty, Monmouthshire
1951 - Their daughter Gillian was born in Monmouthshire
1957/01/06 - Bernard’s father, Edwin George White passed away, aged 67, at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire.
1968/03/24 - Bernard’s Mother Lilla Maud Jasper passed away, aged 75.
1968/09/16 - Bernard’s brother Sidney Herbert Arthur passed away, aged 49, at Pontypool, Monmouthshire.
1994 - 1995
Died
Age 75
27th November 1995
Pontypool, Monmouthshire
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Information
Rhys Davies
Gillian King
Tan DingXiang
Glenda Godfrey
Andrew Snow - Thailand-Burma Railway Centre
Japanese Transport
Thailand-Burma Railway
KEW Files:- WO 361/2165, WO 361/2068, WO 361/2165, WO 361/2188, WO 361/2172, WO 392/26, WO 361/1955, WO 361/2196,
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