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Written by Meg
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Foreword by Major (Retd) Alastair Campbell, Argyll & Sutherland Highland Regiment
| 'Notify Alec Rattray...' … is a story of survival. It concerns a young Scottish soldier and his family during WWII. |
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| Captain Atholl Duncan of the 2nd Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, served as a cipher officer attached to HQ SWPC (South West Pacific Command) in Singapore and then in Java (General Sitwell's HQ), before being taken prisoner by the Japanese in March 1942. Back at home, his fiancée Elizabeth Glassey was in the final year of her medical degree at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. This was Atholl's home town, where he also was studying when they met in 1937. |
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| Alec Rattray was a friend of the family living in California. He received a coded radio message about Atholl and passed it on to the family - at last they knew he was still alive! This recording is amongst the wealth of original material that was treasured and has survived; much of it has been used to give a visual account of their story. The narrative is drawn from diaries, letters and documents which are linked by the author who shares how she uncovered so many fascinating details about their war and how they survived it. | |||
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| During his captivity, Captain Duncan spent three and a half years in four camps, one in Java and three in Japan. This book focuses on the crucial three years 1941-1943. Against all the rules he documented his personal experiences in notebooks and a diary. Against all the odds he brought them home with him. | |||
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The book contains letters and cards sent to him from family and friends as well as his old teachers and university professors. Many contained coded messages. All these people played their part in his survival. The family received letters from friends and strangers and from this correspondence we see how those left at home coped with a very different, but nonetheless very real 'captivity'. Once Java capitulated on 8 March 1942 his family didn't know whether he was dead or alive for over 14 months and then, when they were notified he was a prisoner, there was very little accurate information to help them through. Life in war-torn Britain was unrelentingly tough with everyone stretched to their limits. | ||
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| Dr Glassey spent her first three years as a doctor working in Obstetrics in her home town of Bradford. She was a skilled and sensitive practitioner who was admired by colleagues and loved by patients. |
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| After the war they married and Atholl returned to university, switching degree courses to study medicine. In 1950 he qualified and began his career in general practice. He, and later on Elizabeth, were GP's in Moreton, Wirral, for almost 30 years. | |||
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| 1936 October | A. A. Duncan to St Andrews University |
| 1937 October | J. E. Glassey to St Andrews University |
| 1939 October | A. A. Duncan took commission, Lieutenant in H.L.I. |
| 1940 January - June | Served with B.E.F., transferred to 5th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highland, machine gun detachment. While in France promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. |
| 1940 May | A. A. Duncan and J. E. Glassey engaged |
| 1941 January | Posted to Singapore with 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He re-trained in the Intelligence Corps as a cipher officer with G.H.Q. |
| 1942 March | Taken prisoner and interned in four camps, first, Tandjong Priok Batavia (now Jakarta) in Java |
| 1942 October - November | Shipped to Japan |
| 1942 December | Elizabeth qualifies - Dr Glassey |
| 1942 December - 1943 July | Motoyama Camp, Honshu Island |
| 1943 January | Dr Glassey starts work at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford |
| 1943 July | Transferred to Zentsuji Camp, Shikoku Island |
| 1945 July | Transferred to Miyata Camp, Kyushu Island |
| 1945 September | Liberated |
| 1945 November | Returned to Scotland |
| 1946 January | Atholl and Elizabeth marry at St Barnabas Church, Heaton, Bradford |
For further information e-mail: megparkes@kranji.co.uk
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Order 'Notify Alec Rattray ...' on-line or buy from your local stockist |
soft back, 196pp, over 130 illustrations, price £11.50 plus p&p (£2.00 UK, £5.00 other destinations)
ISBN No: 0-9541428-0-2
Written by Meg Parkes
Published on 15th February 2002
A Kranji Publication
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