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World War II

Taken from https://ww1.wales/post-ww2-war-memorials

Tudor Samuel Thomas, Gunner, 1796246, Royal Artillery. Tudor was born near St. Clears on 1 March 1910, the son of Samuel and Mary Thomas. He was raised in Aberdare following the early death of his father, as his mother parents had moved there to work, but returned to Carmarthenshire, and lived with his wife Maria at Felinfach, Talog. Tudor enlisted into the Royal Artillery following the outbreak of war and embarked for the Far East with 48 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery from the Clyde on 6 December 1941, bound for Batavia, Java. The Japanese invaded Java on 28 February 1942 and following heavy fighting the Allied Commanders signed the surrender document on 12 March. Tudor was taken prisoner by the Japanese during this brief campaign in the Dutch East Indies and was later transported to Japan, where the prisoners were used as forced labour, as a result of lack of Japanese manpower. He died in a Prisoner of War Camp in Omine, Nagasaki, on 9 January 1943, aged 32. His remains were originally interred near his camp but in 1946 were re-interred in Yokohama War Cemetery.