Branch of Service

Air Force

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

23/08/1941

Date of Discharge

02/01/1946

Place of Enlistment

Woolloomooloo NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

13/12/1917

Place of Birth

Calne, England

Address (at enlistment)

Dampier Crescent, Forrest ACT

Occupation

Radio engineer

Next of Kin

George Thomas (father), Dampier Crescent, Forrest ACT

Service Number

263108

Final Rank

Flying Officer

Final Unit

2 Embarkation Depot

A member of the Canberra Swimming Club, a scout with the 1st Canberra Rover crew at St John's in Reid and a former student of Scotch College in Melbourne, Thomas trained as a radio engineer with Canberra Broadcasters Ltd and gained his Broadcast Operators Certificate of Proficiency from the PMG Department in 1938. His radio skills saw him called up for duty with the Administrative and Special Duties Branch of the RAAF on 23 August 1941. He embarked for the Far East in early January 1942 but shortly after was reported missing and then as a prisoner of war in the Cycle Camp, Java (Indonesia) where he spent "the days on the kitchen ration party". Several messages purporting to be from Thomas (and others) were broadcast by Japanese radio from Java. He was greeted home, along with other POWs, by the Governor General in December 1945.

At a welcome for members of the Canberra Division of the Institute of Engineers, Thomas described the improvisations made in the workshops of his POW camp. "The Dutch officers made a soap factory using a process with common salt, obtaining caustic soda, and then by breaking down again obtained a kind of peanut or coconut oil which made fairly good soap." They even made tooth powder.

Various types of radio sets were used by prisoners, some hidden in water bottles. "The usual thing was for a water bottle to be soldered halfway across, the top half being filled with water and the bottom half containing the receiver." An American prisoner used to hide a receiver in his wooden leg. "Although the receivers were only two valve affairs, they could pick up the BBC signals strongly." He died on 18 August 2008.

In additional information supplied by Thomas's daughter, Janet Thomas "As Dad always told it, he volunteered for the forces. Initially he planned to join the Army, but when he received the enlistment papers, one of his referees (a retired Army officer) pointed out that Dad was about to sign papers for permanent Army. Thus, Dad volunteered for the Airforce instead for the duration of the war. He was a volunteer, never a conscript. He was driven by a strong sense of duty to King and country." 

DVA WW2 Nominal Roll
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967
The Canberra Times - 4 November 1942, 18 November 1942, 31 December 1945, 28 March 1946, 22 August 2008
NAA RecordSearch