Bidspirit auction | A General Service Medal 1918

A General Service Medal 1918 with clasp ‘Palestine’ to a pre-war regular soldier, taken prisoner by the Japanese at the Fall of Singapore in 1942, and who died of malnutrition and disease in Thailand in 1943 whilst working as a POW forced labourer on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway. General Service Medal 1918 (GVIR 1st type) with clasp ‘Palestine’, named to: 2319490 Sgln H A Taylor R Signals. Harwood Alfred Taylor was born in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire on 5 June 1909 and, as an apprentice fitter and turner, enlisted into the Royal Corps of Signals on 18 July 1928. He served in China, Palestine and Malaya before being posted to Singapore Fortress Signals in September 1940. He was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese when Singapore was surrendered on 15 February 1942 and was later held at No 4 Branch Camp at Wan Yai in Thailand, working as a forced labourer on the Burma- Siam railway, where he died of avitaminosis (malnutrition) on 9 July 1943, aged 34. After the end of the war his remains were transferred from the camp burial ground to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery where they remain today. The notorious Burma-Siam railway was a Japanese project to provide a direct rail link to support their forces in Burma. Constructed by British, Commonwealth, Dutch and American POWs, together with conscripted forced civilian labour, the rail line was 424 kilometres long; started in October1942 and finished in December1943, the work involved two labour forces working from opposite end of the line towards the middle. During the construction of the railway, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried at the Branch Camps along the line. An estimated 80,000- 100,000 civilians also died. For his WW2 service, Signalman Taylor was also entitled to the 1939-1945 Star, the Pacific Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939-1945. Together with copy record of service and other correspondence relating to his capture and death, extract from CWGC record, copy photograph of his grave and copy group photograph of Shanghai Signal Section 1933, including Signalman Taylor. Extremely Fine (EF) condition.