Cpl Thomas North
Thomas North was born in 1924 and joined the RAF for training in Blackpool and Scotland before his posting to Burma. He was a member of No. 3 Repair and Salvage Unit operating in the front line and recalled with great affection serving alongside a Ghurka unit.
We were not fortunate enough to be able to meet Thomas or tape-record his experiences. However we have a close link with Beatrice North, his widow, who kindly supplied us with details of Thomas’s service and generously donated an impressive collection of Thomas’s photographs and artefacts, including a travel chess set, Japanese silk flag and a knitted W.A.A.F. doll with its accompanying pattern.
The doll was knitted by Thomas’s sister and mother and it travelled with him wherever he went. His sister also sent a fruit cake to Burma for Thomas’s 21st birthday. Unfortunately it was soaked by a bottle of Dettol which broke in the parcel, but the cake was eaten regardless!
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- From Thomas North’s ID card
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- A letter to Margie and Bee
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- RAF versus Denis Compton’s XI.
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- A travel chess set with pieces made from slivers of painted plastic located in slots in the board
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- Knitted W.A.A.F. doll and knitting pattern
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- 1945 Xmas letter
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- Tom North in the cockpit
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- Station football team, T. North front row right
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- A typical Japanese bath
Inventory of the Donation
- 5 newspapers
- SEAC paper and a souvenir edition
- Photograph album of Far East, also RAF photographs and photographs from Burma, India and Japan
- ID card
- Knitted W.A.A.F. doll and knitting pattern
- Leaflet dropped on Japanese troops telling them that the emperor had surrendered
- Japanese flag
- Booklet on Japanese grammar, phrases etc.
- Japanese souvenirs
- Travel chess set