Richard George Read 1899-1946

'A Lifetime of Service'

Until fairly recently I knew nothing about my Great Grandfather other than that he must have served in the Army as he is commemorated on Llanbadarn Fawr War Memorial. I had passed the War Memorial a thousand times in my youth but never spent any time studying it or questioning his name on it. When my mum became very ill a few years ago she asked me to find out more about her Grandfather as he had died before she was born, she told me that his name was held in high regard within the family. I therefore started on my journey finding our more about the life of my Great Grandfather Richard (Dick) George Read.

Richard was born in Hockley in Warwickshire in April 1899. Richards mother Mary, his two sisters Violet and Hilda lived in Army Barracks as as their father was an Artillery man, accordingly Richard's education was mainly in Barrack schools where his father happened to be posted. Richard's father was in the South Staffordshire Regiment but left to join the Royal Artillery in 1891. He served a total of 12 years before becoming joining the army reserve. He was re-called to serve in the Boer War arriving in April 1900. During his time there he was awarded the following Medals; South Africa w/clasp, Transvaal, Cape Colony and Orange Free State Medals. He sadly he died of Dysentry in October 1900 when his son Richard was just over one year old. Richards mother therefore had to bring up three children on her own, no mean feat without the today's safety net of the NHS and Benefit system. She eventually re-married another Artillery man 5 years later and had three more children with him.

When Richard reached the age of 12 he found work at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. He was employed as a 'boy' and it was here that they created the weapons and ammunition for the British Armed Forces. At the start of WW1 he left aged 14 to enlist in the Royal Horse Artillery as a 'Bugler', he was posted to the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) serving on the Western Front in France, I find it hard to even contemplate the things he must have seen, especially considering that he was still only just a teenager. Richard’s role in the Royal Horse Artillery meant that he would have been involved in several campaigns on the Western Front (I still need to do more research to find out which!), indeed he was still in France in 1919, all before he was 20 years of age.

Richard went on to spend over 30 years in service, postings to Palestine and Egypt in the 1920's and 30's followed, he married his wife Daisy Preston in Cairo in 1927, within a year his eldest daughter (my Gran) was born also in Cairo. Richard’s archive contains a huge number of photos from this period. A turbulent time in Egypt’s history, Richards photographic and service records show that he took part in many of the momentous upheavals that were taking place in Egypt and were signifying the slow decline of the British Empire. The family returned to the UK in 1930. Richard was with ‘K’ Battery Royal Horse Artillery at this time, before a posting to Mid Wales (Cardigan Battery) allowed him to settle with his family in Aberystwyth. He was awarded his 21 years Log Service Medal in January 1936, by now he was Battery Quartermaster Sergeant, before leaving in 1938.

He then re-enlisted just prior to WW2 as a Lieutenant (QM) in the Territorial Army in Aberystwyth and Cardigan,firstly with the 102nd then the 146th Regiment, Royal Artillery and was promoted to Captain during this period. At some point in 1941 he decided to relinquish his Captains rank to join the 118th Field Regiment Royal Artillery as Lieutenant again. This may have been as this Unit was due to be shipped to the Middle East and he wanted to ‘due his duty’ in action. Forming part of the 18th Division, the 118th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery departed the UK in late 1941, initially expecting to arrive in the Middle East, however the war against Japan in the Far East was not going well and Churchill decided to deploy the 18th Division to Singapore, arriving when the battle was virtually already lost. They landed during air raids on Singapore harbour and many disembarked without the right equipment and very little training for warfare Far East. Within two weeks on the 15th February 1942 Singapore had surrendered to the invading Japanese. Nearly 150,000 mainly British and Australian (but also Indian and Dutch) troops became prisoners of war. The British prime minister, Winston Churchill, called it the "'worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history'". There followed over 3 and a half years of imprisonment for Richard and his fellow POW's.

The Japanese had refused to sign up to the Geneva convention and were notorious in their acts of cruelty to their prisoners. Richard kept a diary, and managed to write entries for most of his incarceration. This diaries make for some harrowing reading, many of the Japanese Guards were cruel and the POW’s were used as slave labour, either on the infamous ‘Death Railway’ built by the POW’s between Burma and Thailand or were used in mines or as slave labour in Japan or their invaded territories. Tales of hardship, starvation,beatings and death fill his diary. Richard entered weighing 12st 10lbs but by the time of his release was down to 7st 10lbs a reduction of 40%.

Many of the Prisoners died as a result of malnutrition or starvation, tropical diseases and the slave labour/over work all took its toll on them. The death rate was 27% for all Japanese Prisoner of War camps during WW2, a horrific fact.

During his 3 1/2 years as a prisoner of war Captain Read was mainly held at Changi POW camp in Singapore, there is a photo in his archive showing the prisoners on a 'work party' accompanied by Japanese Guards. These work parties were used initially to clear up airfields and other key sites after the surrender. This photo was created as propaganda by the Japanese to illustrate to the outside world, how well they were treating their prisoners! Families back in the UK were unaware of the fate of their loved ones held by the Japanese, many assuming the worst after years of no contact. The first letter Captains Reads wife, Daisy heard from her husband was sent from Singapore and dated 31st January 1941 but not arriving until 10th August 1944. Discipline was harsh and often cruel, public beheadings were often held for those who tried to escape. In one incident, known as the 'Selerang Barracks Incident' which started on 30 August 1942 as a result of the Japanese recapturing four POWs who had attempted an escape from the camp. The furious Japanese Guards required that the other 17,000 prisoners in the camp sign a pledge never to attempt to escape again. After they refused, they were forced to crowd in the barrack square for nearly five days with little water and no sanitation. The executions of the four recaptured POWs failed to break the men. The POW's commanding officer realising the dire conditions of his men capitulated and instructed the men to sign. An indication of the severe treatment and horrific consequences facing the prisoners on a daily basis. Incidents like this badly affected those who were fortunate enough to survive, up to a third who returned home suffered what is now known as PTSD. At that time Mental health was often 'hushed up' or 'brushed under the carpet' meaning many prisoners were often left untreated with families of the prisoners often having to deal with the aftermath of the years of abuse. 'There have been limited mortality studies on ex Far East prisoners (FEPOWs) since repatriation, but these suggest an early (up to 10 years post release) excess mortality due to tuberculosis, suicides and cirrhosis (probably related to hepatitis B exposure during imprisonment). In terms of morbidity, the commonest has been a psychiatric syndrome which would now be recognized as post-traumatic stress disorder—present in at least one-third of FEPOWs and frequently presenting decades later' (https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/102/2/87/1534212)

Captain Read suffered from Beri Beri and dyspepsia during his time in Changi, being bed bound for the last few months in an often incoherent and delirious state. The Japanese never issued medicines to the POW's, this meant that the prisoners themselves had to set up their own 'hospitals' with many brave men conducting medical procedures without anaesthetic or even the most rudimentary equipment. With remarkable ingenuity and inventiveness they dealt with recurrent attacks of malaria and dysentery, as well as tropical ulcers and beriberi, and devastating epidemics of cholera. Their efforts undoubtedly saved thousands of lives. It was only when Captain Read was shipped to India in autumn 1945 that he started to recover and gain weight. On his arrival home to Aberystwyth, he was greeted of the train on 1st December 1945 by the Mayor and town dignitaries. After a brief spell with his family in Llangawsai near Aberystwyth, he briefly joined the Amphibious Training Wing in Tonfannau, Towyn in 1946, before he became ill.

The End of the War in the Far East no doubt saved many of these men from death as many more would have perished as food and medicines became increasingly more scarce as the war continued. Though Captain Read was given as heroes welcome on his return, this was often not the case for the majority of those returning home. Many of these men were never the same both physically and mentally and this often took its tool on the families that they returned home to.

Sadly Captain R G Read never really recovered of his poor treatment as a POW and died of Stomach Cancer in Chester Military Hospital in September 1946 leaving behind his wife and two daughters in Llangawsai. He is commemorated on the Llanbadarn Fawr War Memorial.

I inherited his archive in 2018, and realised quickly what a beautiful but sad reminder it was about a man and our family. I have become ‘obsessed’ with the collection and archive, my time is now spent researching into each and every photo and item, a quest to find out as much information as possible, I feel it will take many years!

S Burgess, Cardiff, 2020