Sepia Saturday
David Newlands
my father's older brother
and an uncle I never knew
was born in the Canterbury town
of Timaru, New Zealand
of Timaru, New Zealand
After he completed school
he joined the Royal New Zealand Airforce
David was captured
by the Japanese in the Pacific War
and interned in a POW camp
It is believed that when prisoners
were being transported
by the Japanese across the Pacific
he was killed in an allied attack
But there are no records
to confirm this
I found this photograph
and the commemorative certificate
on my Father's bedroom wall
when I visited Christchurch, New Zealand
last week
last week
*
A moving post, Delwyn. So sad that David and many of his contemporaries had their lives cut short. He has a charming smile here. A lovely way to remember him.
ReplyDeleteDelwyn
ReplyDeleteThank-You for sharing some of your family history with your readers. We can learn so much about history within our own family.
I will also read over Sepia Saturday--never heard of this blog.
Best
Tracy :)
Hi Delwyn.
ReplyDeleteThank You . Bless David & The Others That Fell.My Uncle was a Japanese Prisioner also.So Many Lost Lives....
That is a lovely portrait photo of your uncle.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Delwyn. My most heart-felt respect for David!
ReplyDelete♥...Wanda
His charming smile is so innocent, not knowing the fate that awaited him.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a wonderful certificate.
This was a very moving post.
Knowing your love for Japanese culture and for New Zealand too, and reading between the lines about the Allied attack sinking the ship he had been riding in... all this mixed together makes for a wonderfully complex and moving post that speaks eloquently and softly about the utter waste and futility of warfare.
ReplyDeleteWow, he was so beautiful, and looks full of life, so happy. wonderful. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteA sad ending for such a beautiful man.
ReplyDeleteYour Dad must have loved him very much. It is lovely for you to remember him here Delwyn, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteA very good-looking uncle. It's so sad that so young a life is lost for the hatred in this world.
ReplyDeleteSo very sad. It must have been so moving to find this on your father's wall.
ReplyDeleteHi Martin
ReplyDeletethank you for your thoughtful comments. He does have a lovely engaging smile.
happy days
Hi tracy
ReplyDeletethis is my first Sepia sat and I thought it a good way to chat about family history. Maybe you might like to do the same.
happy days
Hello Tony and welcome to my pages. It is nice to have you over.
ReplyDeleteWriting the post made me think of all those lost young men, so young, their adult lives only just begun...
Happy days
Hi Violet
ReplyDeleteI should have asked my dad what kind of a boy David was. Next trip I will remember to do so.
happy days
Thanks Wanda
ReplyDeleteI have just been thinking about the loss for my father, his only brother. I know my Grandmother never gave up hope as there was never any official report of his death. And to be killed by allied fire...that is hard to accept.
Happy days
Hi Barry
ReplyDeleteThe certificate has recently been given to my family on the death of Dad's sister. My Dad had many dreams of his brother, especially as he became aged, and would often wake believing him to be in the house...It took some convincing by my Mum to tell him otherwise.
Happy days
Hi Dan
ReplyDeleteyes all of that and a future Japanese Son in law, makes for interesting thoughts and rumination...
happy days
Hi reya
ReplyDeleteHe does look a charmer doesn't he...and such a lovely smile.
happy days
HI there Willow
ReplyDeletethere were many such sad tales, thank goodness that our sons do not have to face war.
Happy days
Hi Lori
ReplyDeletethanks for taking the time to leave a message...Finding the picture in NZ with the certificate was rather poignant.
happy days
Hi gaia
ReplyDeleteyes, I wonder what he would have made of his life...
happy days
Hello barbara
ReplyDeletewelcome to this neck of the woods. It is nice to see your smiley face.
I hope we can get to know each other through this medium...
happy days
A lovely post -- it's good to keep their names alive.
ReplyDeleteOh, how tragic. Although I don't have any children, I always think about how hard it must be for parents when a child of theirs dies in this way.
ReplyDeleteIt is the unknown that makes it more sad. The war was bad, and the reasons it started were much worse. I can not imagine how many families who still have the affects of the war in their lives, the next generation.
ReplyDeleteSo many families impacted by the loss of sons and brothers and husbands; the young men who never aged and whose stories were silenced. It moves me very much to read of them now, the little snippets of lives who live still in the hearts of those who loved them.
ReplyDeleteHow many lives were snuffed out with no actual confirmation in circumstances such as this?
ReplyDeleteHe looked a cheery young fellow. It's nice that you have these items to remember him.
I love your poem in the next post, by the way.
Kat
Thank you Vicky
ReplyDeleteMy Dad I know thinks of him often now he is old and has had a stroke, he seems to be able to slip back in time easily and think he is with David.
Happy days
Hello Christine
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to meet you and have you stop by.
It must be one of the hardest things. My Nana never gave up hope.
Thank you for joining in today.
Happy days
Hi Larry
ReplyDeleteOne of my kids has a beautiful boy for a partner who happens to be Japanese. I wondered how my family would see that. But they have become much more open minded since way back when we adopted a Korean baby 20 years ago.
The world is very small now. One interesting thing I learned was that the Japanese partner had little to no knowledge of WW11.
Perhaps it is a subject that is skipped over in history at Japanese schools.
Happy days
Hello Nan Jo and welcome to my little patch of paradise here in Qld.
ReplyDeleteThey were indeed just slim lives, but still loved, and missed.
happy days
Good morning Poetikat
ReplyDeletethank you for your comments today.
Do you mean the walk post prior?
The text is just a flow of thoughts that acquiesced as I wrote the post...nothing special...
Happy days
A beautifully constructed post : the words and the picture(s) were so well balanced and seemed to add so much to each other. An over-long explanation would not have been half as effective a tribute.
ReplyDeleteHello Alan
ReplyDeletewelcome to my pages, and thank you for stopping to place a generous comment.
Happy days
Far too many lives lost fighting wars for others. Sad that you never knew him.
ReplyDelete