BADSEY MAN SAFE
Good news reached the Badsey home of L/AC Phil Sparrow, only son of Mrs R C Sparrow, when she received an air mail letter on Tuesday to say that he had been liberated from a prison camp in Singapore. The letter, which was dated September 6, was in L/AC Sparrow’s own handwriting.
In his letter, L/AC Sparrow did not give any details of his captivity or of the conditions under which he had lived for over three years, though he did mention the astonishing fact that during the whole of his captivity in the prison camp he only received one Red Cross food parcel.
Educated at Badsey Council School, L/AC Sparrow was employed by Mr V Cockerton of Badsey, until he volunteered for the RAF in June 1940. He reached Java in December 1941 and was captured there just before the fall of Singapore.
News that he was a prisoner in Japanese hands reached Mrs Sparrow only last February. Her anxiety has now been eased with the hope that he will soon be home.