"Aunt Glad was one of the stable elements in our family life. We lived with her and aunt Nel. They even saw us off to join our parents in Singapore in the '50s. And whilst there, we were saddened to hear of her death in far off London.
Years later we were shocked to find out that she had been a prisoner of the Japanese in Singapore. And I wanted to go and find out what had happened to her in our old barracks. Four years in Changi jail must have been a stark contrast from the luxurious life she had led in Singapore.
Changi jail was being restored when I passed to go to the museum. The history of the museum brought Aunt Glad sharply to mind. There I found her name on the register, and that of her husband whose only epitaph was to give the date he died.
I called in on the Raffles Hotel and drank in the same bar where she and her husband used to spend the evening with friends.
Next year, when the jail is restored there'll be a remembrance service for those who spent the war in Chaigi and I hope to go to pay my final respects to Aunt Glad."
