Letters and Postcards written by John Slater, 1942-1945 - Part 1

Conflict:
Second World War, 1939–45
Subject:
  • Documents and letters
Status:
Open to contributions
Accession number:
AWM2019.7.16
Difficulty:

Page 1 / 10

JC Serae PS0 Heyoreeo Core Cor FMSTE MAArA 134 26t Jamar ty Dene time I a hope you beny not been haryn about oe h I can asture o he Ien sife hll ly h en hag i psl I do not know of your depatge until fo sevly I today I reaed beel, leter he I had brte Taday I am you a casle telling you I call tfore at the helleine branch of the Cark of her pant Wal wher I have had and all an sevmps etc & I wild aaacai he any that the wantly allewance you the J.R.S. Samae be paid in to had bank; Hasever, if you dime to cllect this watly allowance in feton, fu cam t so by seeing the Ihb rebusenatie at 61 Honree S. Franey I am enclosing a copy of a leter to the Prosdens Funt which I want you to pet to be address in England ju in can the enguial go atay. H not cabe for this neney unless you really need it, as the refresents loughing we have left to sen and ane after her new has been cears I knw you hew ancly few an be suffering, not Knewing where or how I am, but peraued fethen, that when we are togete again, I will by n make if
fo all Dant ever dalt the I dee teve fom my Dailing, I get as any few opporunites to write, but it do take forward to receiving a nos from you, howeve h ta at keep once I would like ym t say wit inlee of possible, being a sant p hie be away haw Dossible handle, haves tembte Do wite o tell me of your lp dawn. Did Ruly go with you Will Sankiart, I must cloe now as here it a p of wart to be sene before the light ails, so do keep fou chan up to my sake & pemember me in fam Dayert see m tended lane in en Wrag top Alway Yan the
Cn L.C. SeaC 7830 Mnved Cre Cor FMS.F.F Yrera 32 Febuary 1852 by Daling . I hat he by thet the ghor are fulng ten nemal self + he you are trig he oppoinl of heg a gines per afe all the palie of geling hane I am bell, but sll you tendly a long to be wik fr again, A nigh I by ware heeng of you wentering the pran d t petng en gus ne tgite I to conider mself a pate independent teten, be new I feel as tagh any half of me were here he telf gater increngly of ay han exteenced wll mot bit, excgt t he have been exly pic to ges tgh ep & tat any ait hes due sine vey good hast, so may that we may be tgeten to enjoy a p peace t appreaa tha which te considered him dre before ll fthe this appeaoe a e heanabl leter so lo bele by a cherc not the did pu manage sateage hon Get Segal Bip fn get any of my ceneral away o my trst bat uepportunt a muth angway, te Dailing, he saited po serat before i be ta do is again, so just lesh pwent to the tie the e sta cbing the latte tagter nceagain Ii ahd regard t Ale Gon I li t I ife fo noteed a big differnce whe you sen him again Did be pmber you
ening I have not go a phosspapt of you, all ay naxt here less at BTagat, so pene to send one o fancill, as the I say have sentig concrete I I have an ppteity of doing so, I will get ae of myself t send t pe Gos tulh hls regaires us after havng a rate shor leave in sydney which he injoyed t sent hel regud thet teclide i ailting & Ray haulten has regaired as having recevered pen his wound. He thills is seawly recasuing I will not be beek bit as to a thile. Tno of the chept on he car with he were por named pecently & see now beny trying to get then wrait away le an very hunenan ase to t reliae he tende i theye a fire t of taps in thit wit! If an here are amnt then tenber are not of the best, icanding faud hul th t are so g t Darling, a mull? I k that tere ca yo ar als i thoughts, so kep you chan ap te het ng the i ell e sa be clared i Thl it all he nent for the present, so d write sean & be ne know everyhing. His pu recuse my litte a case regarding meany Aunsfor the tie being Danlin Bn beny all my lan Aways a fe John
Snewhere in Aailand nea to parma Gorde 31s October 184 by M Deans Barling Ane, I have decidet & writ this jus in case I do not came through thit anfue men I hope had in some way, this pett will even trally pch fou & fo will have sam idea of what has happend 8me during all thes mnts I will be writing this a guit a fit of days, so before I go any furter I wan you to know that hm you nore than anyting doe in this world & has every nigh I pray tat you may be cenpted that gualt not furn grane, so Daing no te what happen ou go on being your own happy self & tall the sest life has to offen few this is my wish. Dee Darling, this is fid a rough antice of that happened afer I have pa pt aotone Onr care of the Ssh section ant of again for Fril but by he me we anaed on he seene, we here be pasted back by the pps after some patice wok in frwe were ordered to Taiing to fi te 11th Dunin H.A. bnt an arriving in Daiing we found wey one peteating I so be had came back to know kang where we fit
Tet wait an at c be te no ate t days of this e bas wen ee e the s at to salke ae tgter wit a regaler iet o agralles; here be adam fust penenelly ee an f on t hea nowng 2tp e se an I aught and amonti be seb in the goot youd ju about soo y t we are parked. bax about 200 t ma te & the si bu of wit a bf ws& tate a slf all day, it was hell l looe, at c ayekpu dt d and fo a dank we we ablet go an awtest parte & pt ta han norte of poh where we ope night t dome beck through p ta pked at te site of te ase pnd sent An Ctees pn te caught a tue t bhe tA t Fe Ctked i te tl s t p pt t te e maget to perauge & so be all hesquit a Aushi ky was gi deen ferd for a te hy baybe ll tpoun piell t ahr aate p 6 osee we het gen of p & rete Kmp where we spent t of an te tolp banks a patielling by teath Om secebe ae a feung and or of o elin st rt d te fer a ct in fit i a f S gobrnge bt feee sent pet t two e no Conith te da ay helther diney, he hills at the gue 2 ayrly as the wihe contit he first whuh there an s pvng bllet came thrang a coug t through wi aa daget thet tare the sheg tel w g bens w b guaet he pot contels with his feet by his t ie bef th in cen into the bl seve treugh jo ng 2 getg pe he is the last, a afte suggling as another the be pes t ptine with te egue t abou pe te gea box set & t fort hate sotaney, both Ryd Jaw Killsbeing ospt t be & sile in hice only the recouding on gitg inside t cat seltin as sue both of them a ty The tdge containing b Kilae, Max Cliachon & Garron sun or heard of again, as I do
happened to ten There is sla posibiliy of their tuing up again after the was, but a very slight nam afaid. I was left in charge of the er of any unewhich consisted of ue ane supply truck se noto cycle he damages ca being shended ov for reper. I was ordered by return to umpen to get rempeest so of I se, being dive benbed on the way I anwed in K.L Ja on rdnight her fear Car thoughy wr n where after makingg report + geting somking to eat i turned in and has the but night deep Ihad hed for week her pa Dge sasiet to he fo office & sen fo a not knowing has you had left Bingafore too days before The exday wes given the command of two amound can & orderedt proced to Por Dialson o Cosstal patial, this has really a ret cure, because nothing happened afe sx says was recalled t where peed forces wit the rst of the Ams Car, waking a tas sugh 10 we then went into action in the lang Sistrict withen any low t anlved.
Weten retenlet to PHictsa, trense to Malscen seganat, Gatir Pahat Genet, (where we lost sca tent eney 6 men, but we eventually heard that they were all prer of h in , amongs ten t Bill Dunne L aloe heme you sayetin K.L.) letented to Pontian Nechil, finelly arriing on ppare Seand on the 3 January & atte being bonbet, sheeled a under rifle fue fr days, on Friday B. February Two large shells tended amonge as + I collested a fiece of sheapuel in the high. There were fine of us, Bob Hith in the leg t0 Be in the ches, Peter puey in the auxander in the leg tor bt died hat night in Alexendha Hospetal to ce all taken to this hospital. The next day, withon any warning, the pps swarmed into the hospital owing to be per tat Indian troops rereated through the hopital firing on to enemy as they did so. In the heat of bathe, the pps tilled guite l of patens & hapital o Perlies, among the patints to as poar Bobe Veith, enly three weeks after he arrived bacl from his starined leave in Austialia On Sunday 15th Feb about Cpm, Dingapore toa in the hand of the pp. I will not dwell on the
I ta anae hardeci in the hopas int & aste 29 next dly this d aay he Ihe sorsps tt a dyy day be feesiving Hunday, M e. Ihas psst aft alll worked b day a week po ga top to wall, but the seepuel stel us any tigh wayorde 530p we lad Tursdage ofte to ner 1arles to the Cange pines of Ap work we eke loading brs wil read wte fich sev work, mising Ancute or loadin I abguetant Cge about s Exjineste the sender of the Blunker Amsuet C by be ben sip or stes torh rice is sicts loughing 20t & steas steat of Cvill the wer days yearet in a mall bugale, 150 9u, I let ctut bu n te sall I have p all o y kt he anly ting I pon being seen healt. On honday 12h October we tree the chr shorts bosts tas I sod upin I beraed ordered to pc up a nold to pagapore Cail aekt e Aehey there be one tessit ot dee goots for e s td Sper tec shic ae tyo seten wes a pleane teelp, a pupp the ie was any sitting wea & paslyt at that th inchisetall is which wes in to trus wit of tan bild nice a goanful gage as I was in sharge of the tll Swas in (The fin, nopiee & soae to one 169 his of fish been pentet to te 24 of Aegu Re on m nor pice with sondy a gomp of sau thi oe be aslet le af or atia witout willug tl pi al have te xt autont as te a des a Cange wil 14 ay the sone the segents and a) this are tat wcp lat te hi mosed t in slarge of the menbers of the Amans b m svening next consisted of thes bissutl be t before leaving a ti of ja bet h been gn te Fet the 209us We joerd& ratted al all nigh He aree quartred in raugh Attphuts, 200 ha sip eing and of the question; at night the h sleing on ssit. The por ws a likle st t like a repeguat a terkid betcy be had seen gte dily, a litte fo but by dhe
We eventually arrived at Kealo Junp sation where we had an first mial at on te Bt Oct This nexl contisted of rice + watirg visitable sen we also had to get our evening teat anthe hai & his consisted of a small plice of Tried fish & partion of plan rice. H.L. Station lasked sarticularly dirly + was begone. The Indiand & malaya looking an very silety & stalid & chinese were conpicuen by their absence Am meal over, we were hedes beek anto the hain then of an our jauency northward. We passed Lawing where the paps appeared to have and tedges going again at Bidon (arkby the time taling heae was 0 we neared Bate Gajah, I caued see the light of Kint Dredge in operation & I could not help but sign when I thought of all we had lort there. We arrived a pots about 130 am where we were allowed a few minutes to shetch on legs on the peattori before noving on. We arrived at hrai about gan on the 14th (hai is on the namland just oppositi tenang bolan where we had a meat of rise a dew & given few plan pice for an midday neal. We then neved of again, travelling sall day & stending on had night (sluplers) in he rai Iav found us lasking an whailand which we ladentered early te evening befoe

CPL J.C. SLATER 7950

ARMOURED CAR COY.

F.M.S.V.F MALAYA

26th January 1942.
My Dearest Anne,

I do hope you have not been worrying

about me but I can assure you that I am safe & well & I

miss you terribly; more than I ever thought it possible.
I did not know of your departure until just 
recently & today I received back, letters that I had written

to you. Today I sent you a cable telling you to call 
at the Melbourne branch of the Bank of New South Wales

where I have had sent all our savings etc. & I would 

advise you to open an account there as I have arranged

that the monthly allowance from the F.th. D. government

be paid into that bank. However, if you desire to collect

this monthly allowance in person, you can do by

seeing the F.th.S. representative at 61 HUNTER ST. SYDNEY.
I am enclosing a copy of a letter to the Provident Fund

which I want you to post to the address in England just in case

the original goes astray. Do not cable for the money

unless you really need it, as this represents everything we

have left to start out anew after this mess has been cleaned

up.
I know just how much you must be suffering, not

knowing where or how I am, but rest assured, Sweetheart, 

that when we are together again, I will try & make up

 

2

for it all. Don't even doubt that I still love you, my 

Darling, I get so very few opportunities to write, but I 

do look forward to receiving a note from you, however 

small. You do not know how much it helps. 

I would like you to stay with Aileen if possible, being

so far south, for you to be away from possible trouble, however

remote. 

Do write & tell me of your trip down. Did Ruby

go with you?

Well Sweetheart, I must close now as there is a 

job of work to be done before the light fails, so do keep

your chin up for my sake & remember me in your 

prayers.

All my fondest love, my soon Dearest Wife. 

Always
Yours
John

 

CPL. J.C. SLATER 7950

ARMOURED CAR COY.    F.M.S.V.F.,

MALAYA. 

5th February, 1945

My Darling wife,
I hope that by the time you are feeling your

normal self & that you are taking the opportunity of having

a quiet rest after all the excitement of getting home. |
I am well, but miss you terribly & long to be with you

again; At night I lay awake thinking of you & wondering

what you are doing & reliving our good times together. 

I used to consider myself a rather independent person, but 

now I feel as though only half of me here & that half 

rather unwillingly.

Of my war experienced I will not write, except to tell 

you that I have have been extremely fortunate to get through safely

& that our unit has done some very good work, so pray

that we may be together & enjoy a just peace & appreciate

that which be considered "humdrum" before. 

Well, Sweetheart, that appeared to be a rather miserable 

letter so I'd better try a cheerier note. 

What did you manage to salvage from Bata Gayah?

Did you get any of my cameras away & my wrist watch? 

I know you did not have an opportunity to send much,

anyway, Anne Darling, be started from scratch before & we 

can do it again, so just look forward to the time when 

we can start climbing the ladder together once again. 

  Give my kind regards to Aileen, Brian and Little John. 

I suspect you noticed a big difference when you saw him

again. Did he remember you?

 

2

Darling, I have not got a photograph of you, all my

snaps were left at B. Gayah, so please do send one of

yourself so that I may have something concrete.

If I have an opportunity of doing so, I will get one

of myself to send to you.

Bob Veitch has rejoined us after having a rather short

leave in Sydney which he enjoyed & sends his regards. 

Max MacCracken is missing & Ray Haulton has rejoined

us having recovered from his wounds. Rv Mills is slowly

recovering & will not be back with us for a while. 

Two of the chaps in the car with me were just marred

recently & are now busy trying to get their wives away.

There are many humorous moments to relieve the tension &

they're a fin lot of chaps in this unit. Of course there are 

moments when tempers are not of the best, including yours (??)

but these outbursts are soon forgotten. 

Anne Darling, do you miss me much? I know that 

there could never be anyone but you & you are always in 

my thoughts, so keep your chin up, Sweetheart & here's 

hoping that this mess will soon be cleaned up. 

This is all the news for the present, so do write 

soon & let me know everything. Did you receive my letter

& cable regarding money.

Cheerio for the time being, Darling  do not 

worry. All my love
Always

your own

John

 

Somewhere in Thailand

Near the Burma Border.

31st October 1944

My Dear Dearest & Darling Anne,

I have decided to write

this just in case I do not come through this

awful mess & hope that in some way, this letter

will eventually reach you and you will  have some

idea of what has happened to me during all these

months. I will be writing this over quite a period 

of days, so before I go further I want you 

to know that I love you more than anything else

in this world & that every night I pray that you 

may be comforted and that you do not fret or grieve, 

so Darling, no matter what happens, just go on 

being your own happy self & take the best life has 

to offer you. This is my wish.

Well Darling, this is just a rough outline of what

happened after I last saw you at Ipoh aerodrome:-

Two came of the Ipoh section set off again for Grik

but by the time we arrived on the scene, we were being 

pushed back by the Japs & after some patrol work on

our part we were ordered to Taiping to join 

the 11th Division H.Q. but on arriving in Taiping

we found everyone retreating & so had to 

come back to Kuala Kangsar where we just 

 

2

had to wait around at H.Q. in case we were

required. After two days of this we had to retreat to

Ipoh where we spent the night at the Volunteer men

together with a regular unit of signallers; here we

had our first reasonably decent meal for over a
week. Next morning (about December 21st) the Jap bombers

came over & caught our ammunition train standing

in the goods yard, just about 300 yards from where

we were parked. There was about 300 tons of 

explosives (shells, bombs & ammunitions) on this train

& the stuff went off with a terrific noise & continued 

without a stop all day, it was "hell let loose", all 

we could do was crawl underneath our cars &

dodge the falling shrapnel & shell cans.

 Just on dusk we were able to get out of

our awkward position & retire to a house 

just north of Ipoh where we spent two

nights & then came back through Ipoh town

& parked at the side of the main road south.
On Christmas Eve we caught a turkey & Bill
Banrron, Max McCracken & Phil Glover cooked it
together with some tinned peas & potatoes that we had
managed to "scrounge" & so we all had quite a
decent feed for a change. Christmas Day was quite
dull with just occasional patrol. Boxing Day we
caught another Turkey & had another feed. On
27th Dec we had to get out of Ipoh & return to

3
Kampan where we spent most of our time dodging
bombs & patrolling by roadd. On the morning of 31st
December we were patrolling several miles out in
front of the "Front line" & when we started to return
ran right into a Jap ambush. The first on containing
Jack Lamb, Jack Bxxxxrain and Pearson got through with
only two punctures & not casualties, the next car,
Ray Maneton driving, Lieut Mills at the guard & myself
at the Wireless ran into the first ambush where an
armour piercing bullet came through & caught Roy
through both wrists & as I was sitting alongside, I had
to take the steering wheel with my right hand & whilst Roy
operated the foot controls with his feet, by this time
we had gone on another half mile when we ran
into another ambush & this time another bullet
came through just missing me & getting Lieut Mills
in the back, as after struggling on another three 
miles we reached the front line with the engine 
just about finished, the gear box smashed & the
foot brake shot away, both Ray & Lieut Mills being
rushed to hospital. There were 44 strikes on the car
only two succeeding in getting inside the car &
extremely lucky. The third car, containing Sgt.
Milne, Max McCracken & Barron was never
seen or heard of again, so I don't know what
 

 

4
happened to them. There is still a possibility of their
turning up again after the war, but a very slight
one I am afraid. I was left in charge of the
remainder of our unit which consisted of one car,
one supply truck & one motor cycle, the damaged
car being handed over for repair. I was ordered
by H.Q. to return to Kuala Lumpur to get reinforcements
so off I set, being dive bombed on the way &
arrived in K.L. just on midnight New Years Eve,
thoroughly worn out, where after making my report
& getting something to eat I turned in and had the
best night's sleep I had had for weeks. New Years
Day I dashed to the Post Office & sent you a telegram
not knowing that you had left Singapore two
days before. The next day I was given the
command of two armoured cars & ordered to
proceed to Port Dickson on Coastal patrol,
this was really a post [[??]], because nothing
happened & after six days I was recalled to
K.Lumpur where I joined forces with the
rest of the Am'd Cars, making a total strength
of 10 & we then went into action in
the Klang district without any loss to ourselves.
 

 

5
We then retreated to Port Dickson, thence to Malacca,
Segamat, Batu Pahat, Benut, (where we lost 3 cars
but only 6 men, but we eventually heard that they were
all prisoners of war in K. Lumpur, amongst them was
Bill Dunne at whose house you stayed in K.L.)
Retreated to Pontian Kechil, finally arriving in S'pore
Island on the 31st January & after being bombed, shelled
& under rifle fire for days, on Friday 13th February,
two large shells landed amongst us & I collected a piece of
shrapnel in the thigh. There were five of us, Bob
Veitch in the leg, Les, Best in the chest, Peter Lucy in the
arm & Dave Alexander in the leg.
Les Best died that night in Alexandra Hospital, we
were all taken to this hospital. The next day, without
any warning, the Japs swarmed into the hospital
owing to the fact that Indian troops retreated through
the hospital, firing on the enemy as they did so. In
the heat of the battle, the Japs killed quite a lot of patients
& hospital orderlies, among the patients was poor Bob
Veitch, only three weeks after he arrived back
from his shortened leave in Australia. On
Sunday 15th Feb about 6pm., Singapore was in
the hands of the Japs. I will not dwell on the
 

 

6
xx horrible conditions in the hospital, sufficient to
say that I will not forget them to my dying day. The
following Sunday, 22nd Feb., I had recovered sufficiently, able
to walk, but the shrapnel still in my thigh & was ordered
to march 18 miles to the Changi prisoner of War Camp.
I just staggered into Changi about 5pm. & regained the
other members of the Volunteer Armoured Car Coy. We were
quartered in a small bungalow, 150 of us, I had
lost all of my Kit, the only things I possessed being
the shirt, shorts & boots that I stood up in. I borrowed
a blanket & had to find myself a place on the concrete
floor for the night. The food was terrible, a typical
days ration was as follows:- Breakfast, a plateful
of plain boiled rice & a spoonful of sugar.
Tiffin, more rice & 30 men to one 15 oz tin of fish.
Dinner, more rice with possibly a spoonful of jam
or meat & tea without milk or sugar! We existed
on this at Changi until 14th May when 2,000 of us
was had to march to Singapore to a work camp.
Was in charge of [[142?]] members of the Armoured Cars
(I had been promoted to Sergeant on the 1st Feb.)
We were quartered in rough Attap huts, 200 to our
hut & sleeping on boards. The good was a little
better, we had some vegetables daily, a little flour

7
enough to make one small pasty every second day,
& about 2 ozs of meat daily. On this diet we
worked 6 days a week, from 9am - 12 & from
1pm - 5.30pm. We had Thursdays off & the
work was either loading lorries with road metal,
pick & shovel work, mixing concrete or loading
ships or stored with rice in sacks weighing 220 lbs,
& other odd items, of course there were days of
sickness etc., but on the whole I have kept reasonably
decent health. On Monday 12th October we were
ordered to pack up & march to Singapore Railway
Station where we were loaded into steel goods
trucks, 30 & up to 35 men per truck which meant
that there was only sitting room & packed at that,
this included all our Kit which was in the truck with
us. I was in charge of the truck I was in (I had
been promoted to the ^acting rank of Sergeant Major on
the 1st September in order to be able to look after
my men & also have the extra authority as there
were other sergeants under me) this one took
place at 5 p.m. & at 5-30p.m. the train moved off,
our evening meal consisted of three biscuits we
had issued before leaving & one tin of jam between
the 30 of us. We jolted & rattled on all night,
sleep being out of the question; at night the
truck was like a refrigerator & a turkish
bath by day.
 

 

8.
We eventually arrived at Kuala Lumpur station
where we had our first meal at 1pm on the 13th Oct.
This meal consisted of rice & watery vegetable stew
& we also had to get our evening meal onto the train
& this consisted of a small piece of dried fish &
a portion of plain rice. K.L. station looked
particularly dirty & "woebegone". The Indians
& Malaya looking on very silently & stolid &
chinese were conspicuous by their absence.
Our meal over, we were herded back onto the
train & then off on our journey northward. We
passed Rawang where the Japs appeared to have
our [[?dgis?]] going & again at Bida (dark by this
time) Malim Nawar was in darkness, but as
we neared Batu Gajah, I could see the lights
of Kinta Dredge in operation & I could not
help but sigh when I thought of all we had
lost there. We arrived at Ipoh about 1.30 am
where we were allowed a few minutes to stretch our
legs on the platform before moving on. 











 

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