Alan
many thanks, yes Singapore was surrendered on the 15th Feb and the surviving troops were classified as PoW from then.
Mail to him went through Changi, the mail forwarding group had him as Party Q to Thailand.
will re-check the inwards mail for camp nos.
many thanks 

Hi
I am trying to fill in some information on  Sgt W A Pyke, 5th Batt Beds + Herts Regiment
what I know so far:
Walter Alfred PYKE (known as Bill) b Nov 1907, d May 1991.
PoW at Singapore, sent in Party Q to Thailand 1/11/42
the illustration attached, posted to him June 1942 shows him as a Sargent, he was 34 years old then.

I believe the 5th was a Territorial Battalion.

but I don't know:  when he joined up?, when he was discharged from the Army?, or what happened to him after the war.  He was 84 when he died.  I can't find him on the 1939 Register but his wife is  on the register at the home address.
www.find-my-past has PoW records for him 1924 - 1945 but no enlistment or discharge papers.

any thoughts or ideas???
many thanks

Hi Mike emailed me about this item.
8c was the normal surface* letter rate (for GB + Empire) during the BMA period.  Concession rate was 6c then later 10c.
there is nothing to say this item is 'wrong'  but its not a mark known in BMA Malaya.  My hunch is that it was a private cachet.
Normally Military mail  from Malaya has a return address of a serving military person, does this have a return address?

*there were times in 1945 when officially there was no airmail service but some items were sent by air, if there was space on a plane for a bag or two of mail. These can only be identified by receipt stamps, for instance if they were forwarded, reposted in the UK before seamail would have got them there

Many Thanks to Ingo for transcribing, so  I was able to use google translate, it appears that the sender Kurt was working as a driver, and he writes about what he can, and what he cannot send them.:


"[i]Dear parents and Martha,
Today I received three lovely letters from you and would like to say my best thanks. All three had been sent from elsewhere. The letter of 9/13 from Helmstedt, from 18.9. from Schleswig and from 20.9. from Gross Neuenhagen.
I was particularly pleased that you received the package safely and that you were delighted with the contents. Yes, a good cup of "tea" is definitely not bad. I also have a good cup of this stuff every morning.
The second parcel is now on its way to you dear ones and I would like to hope that this will also go down well with you. I recently told you about the content of the second, it left here on 9/24/47.
For another parcel, I'll get the contents. So far I have about 2 pounds of flour and a pair of slippers. I will also enclose some little things again. Now I want to answer the letters right away before they get cold. I barely have 30 minutes. Since I don't have to drive at the moment and the boss drove away in his car, a Ford V8, I would like to go straight to work and do it. Now new strict regulations have been issued for the dispatch of P.o.W. Parcel. Also many things that I sent in the first P. are now forbidden. E.g. Milk powder, sole leather, yarn and many other things. We are also no longer allowed to send the fish paste and the coffee. I was very pleased about the travel reports from you, dear Martha, and I would like to hope that your return journey will be as good and smooth as the journey there. It's very nice. I was writing about the heat and I was just putting on an under jacket because I was shivering from the cold. I have already answered the first letter and I will also write the second. I would like to leave the third one for the coming Sunday in case I don't get any more mail from you guys in the meantime. And now the lovely letter of September 18, 1947 from Schleswig, which of course I wasn't very happy about. I had completely forgotten enough that pictures were taken in the camp the day before my birthday and of course I was there too. As soon as these pictures are ready, I will send you a print. It is very nice how dear Mrs. Tomo welcomes and entertains you. I'm also amazed at how big the differences between the individual zones are. But I don't think it will ever be any different. Well, dear parents and Marthe, I would like to end my lines for today and give you my warmest regards, Kurt"
[/i]

Thank You !!!
i very big help in understanding this letter
regards Susan

thank you for the transcription
regards Susan

Thanks Alan,
I would struggle to type it  into Google translate,
just hope someone can read it  :)

and 2nd side,

any help would be appreciated, don't need a full translation but  is he saying something he didn't want the Censor to see?

first side:

the scan shows a recent acquisition, a rather tatty cover posted at Bedford 2nd Oct 1947.
The sender was a German PoW held at the camp at Luton Airport, camp number 270.

PoWs were allowed out to work and would have been paid a little, but they qualified for Free postage on PoW letter cards. I have a few letter cards, this is the first franked example I've seen
The question is, why did he pay postage when he could have sent a letter card free?

The sender might have been working at Bedford, I know some PoWs were sent from Luton to Hitchen daily to  work
the sender was Kurt Wescke, same surname as the addressee
the letter is still with the cover but I don't read German!
the camp closed sometime in 1948.

As we approach the 75th Anniversary of VJ day, a post to remember the PoWs.

dated 21st March 1945, and censored in the UK, so received before 15th August, this is a type5 card, meaning it was one of the cards issued in 1945 as only the 5th time Prisoners in Malaya had a card issued to them to  send home.  5 cards in 3 1/2 years. max 25 words per card

Printed 'Malai Furyo Shuyo Sho No 5'  Changi was Camp no. 5.  Shortages of paper and card by 1945 meant that any available card was used,  Japanese censor with Nakajima's oval seal, lower left. 

From the same source as the previous post
the handwritten slip 'real news photo. jap army crossing river to fight British Army in Chin Hills Burma, 22 Mar 1944.'

anything known ?

a real photo postcard. The handwritten note says its "near Tindowin river in Imphal operation 29 Mar 1944, 'OGOU' was code name for Imphal operation"
does anyone know if that is right ?  Can anyone read the japanese writing ?
the provenance of the card is that  I bought it from Postal History dealer who I know handled the collection of a leading Jap Occ Collector. The timing is right for it to be from his collection. I  don't recognise the handwriting.

scan of card only, whole page is too big

from my Luton collection