Uk born -emigrated Australia-Pow Changai Singapore

[Abiam2]

Hello,
I had an uncle born 1907 in Maidenhead Berks his name was Leslie Dobson.
I do not know a lot more.
I believe he married in England (around 1930?) to Mabel.
They emigrated to Adelaide South Australia.
I believe he was in the Australian army and was 'on the Burma Road' and possibly a POW in Changai Singapore.
I have not been able to find his date of birth or when they emigrated but he was in the army and he did receive medals.
I am doubtful of finding anything about him but I would be grateful if someone could try,
Thanks, Abiam

[deeiluka]

Abiam,
He has his war record listed in the National Archives of Australia website
http://www.naa.gov.au/
Choose RecordSearch, and then Search as a Guest. However you will need to put Dobson Alfred Leslie into the search engine, and select As a phrase.

You can if you wish apply to have a digital image of the records put online to download. This will cost about 15 dollars Australian if you live overseas.

I also checked the South Australian Death Index but he is not listed in it. Neither is Mabel.The Death index only goes till 1972.

.....dee

[tropicalj]

Hello  there
from  the World War 2 nominal roll  he was a prisoner of war   and  then from  the Australian War Memeorial Site he was a  prisoner of war in Malaya ( poor man)

regards Jenn

[deeiluka]

These are the websites that Jenn mentions.....
http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/

and
http://www.awm.gov.au/database/index.asp

......dee

[deeiluka]

According to the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society website he was known as Les and died in 1992. His wife Mabel Jane appears to have died in 1997. This comes from a small database of the newspaper Death notice Index.

The SAGHS website is
http://www.saghs.org.au/

They will for a small fee check out any information for you.

.....dee

[tropicalj]

hello again
I  was going to add in  the websites  I  mention  but  my  daughter arrived for me to do  my babysitting duties !!

SO  I  am  glad Dee has done  that

regards Jenn

[deeiluka]

I thought it strange that you hadn't Jenn....because I know you usually would. 

....dee

[Abiam2]

Dee and Jenn,

Thank you very much.  I really didn't expect so much and so quickly!  Any papers connected to either Les or Mabel have been lost and I couldn't remember when she died. so you have found extras for me.

A late night tonight for me as I start on the websites,

Thanks again, Abiam

[Abiam2]

Have got around the sites quite well but have been easily distracted reading about the awful things that went on.  My uncle Les suffered terribly with his feet after working on the Burma railway and that went on for the rest of his life, I believe he had worms eating away at them. 
I remember Les and Mabel coming to England on a trip in the mid 60's and he was still so thin.

How do I go about getting the info from the Saghs maybe I'm too tired but I couldn't see what I had to do!

I shall go to bed and count my blessings, 
Best wishes, Abiam