TRANSLATION:

2nd of Nov 1945 Completed to deliver him to the Allied Forces

Source of translation: Kazuo Sekine

TRANSLATION:

Camp　：Malaya

Rank : former rank in the Japanese army and navy, equiv. to private first-class, lance corporal, etc.

Date of capture ：　　Feb 15th, 1942

Oｃcupation ：　artificial silk worker

Source of translation: Kazuo Sekine

Note, this image was painted by Ronald Searle of  Lt Dann. It compliments Des other artwork of Lt Dann and the enclosed poem adds further evidence of his role as the camp policeman.

The following poem written about Lt Dann by BGC in Changi Gaol POW Camp, Singapore, Sept 1944, further explains Lt Dann’s role as camp policeman…

‘The Exils’. Camp Prisonality – 2

‘D.D.’

 ’Lord Peter Wimsey, Sexton Blake, Nick Carter, Nelson Lee,

Would all agree I take the cake when ‘frisking’ Party ‘P’.

At dead of night or break of day I’m hot upon the scent

Of ‘two-up’ schools and stolen pay- before the cash is spent.

No subtle subterfuge escapes – no pickings from the go-down-

And bulging shirts or rolled-up capes all end up with a showdown.

These homely features hunt down clues,

and leave no stone unturned,

You’ll find I’m up to every ruse-

my nom de guerre’s well earned’. BGC

Source: The Bettany Family wish to thank Sabrina Smith (nee Dann),  Lt Dann’s grand daughter for supplying the above information in January 2013

Photo of Lt Dann from his National Identity Card (1946)

This photo was kindly scanned by Lt Dann’s grand daughter, Sabrina, and a copy sent to the Bettany family for inclusion on this site in 2013.

“Alec Maurice Dann, known as Lt Dann, features in much of Des Bettany’s artwork.

 Lt Dann was born in South London on 10^th June 1913, and served with the 118th Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery, enlisting in the army at the start of the war.

Lt Dann died in 1994 just before his 80^th birthday.  Like most ex POWs, Lt Dann didn’t divulge much of his war experience to his family, although his family understand that he acted as one of the ‘camp policemen’ at Changi, and that would fit with some of Des Bettany’s cartoons of him.

 He was in Changi POW camp from the fall of Singapore until May 1943, when he left to take a working party for the railway to the Siam Road POW Camp.  He returned to Changi a year later when he was sent back suffering with dysentery.

One of the few stories he did share with his family was that at the end of the war when the allied troops dropped bags of sugar and food, Lt Dann was one of the men who found it and rationed it out, because some men who had found the bags had eaten so much that it killed them- it was such a shock to their bodies after so little food for so long.

Who knows what connection Des Bettany had with Lt Dann, as he features in a number of his artwork? Perhaps he was one of the officers attached to Des Bettany’s artillery battery; or maybe Des Bettany, as a 22 year old appreciated Lt Dann’s securing role as ‘camp policeman’, but this is pure speculation.”

Source: The Bettany Family wish to thank Sabrina Smith (nee Dann),  Lt Dann’s grand daughter for supplying the above information in February 2013

This drawing was kindly scanned by Lt Dann’s grand daughter, Sabrina, and a copy sent to the Bettany family for inclusion on this site in 2013. (Des’ family knew their father gave a lot of his art work away to his mates and it is so good to see scanned copies coming back for inclusion on the site).

“Lt Dann shared with his wife how he had once found a man with a frying pan and that he took it from him as their rules were that cooking things had to be shared, to stop people trying to cook food just for themselves. This image depicts this with what seems to be a camp oven in Lt Dann’s other hand.

Lt Dann died in 1994 just before his 80^th birthday.  Like most ex POWs, Lt Dann didn’t divulge much of his war experience to his family, although his family understand that he acted as one of the ‘camp policemen’ at Changi, and that would fit with some of Des Bettany’s cartoons of him.

Who knows what connection Des Bettany had with Lt Dann, as he features in a number of his artwork? Perhaps he was one of the officers attached to Des Bettany’s artillery battery; or maybe Des Bettany, as a 22 year old appreciated Lt Dann’s securing role as ‘camp policeman’, but this is pure speculation.”

Source: The Bettany Family wish to thank Sabrina Smith (nee Dann),  Lt Dann’s grand daughter for supplying the above image & information in February 2013

“Alec Maurice Dann, known as Lt Dann, features in much of Des Bettany’s artwork.

 Lt Dann was born in South London on 10^th June 1913, and served with the 118th Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery, enlisting in the army at the start of the war.

Lt Dann died in 1994 just before his 80^th birthday.  Like most ex POWs, Lt Dann didn’t divulge much of his war experience to his family, although his family understand that he acted as one of the ‘camp policemen’ at Changi, and that would fit with some of Des Bettany’s cartoons of him.

 He was in Changi POW camp from the fall of Singapore until May 1943, when he left to take a working party for the railway to the Siam Road POW Camp.  He returned to Changi a year later when he was sent back suffering with dysentery.

One of the few stories he did share with his family was that at the end of the war when the allied troops dropped bags of sugar and food, Lt Dann was one of the men who found it and rationed it out, because some men who had found the bags had eaten so much that it killed them- it was such a shock to their bodies after so little food for so long.

Who knows what connection Des Bettany had with Lt Dann, as he features in a number of his artwork? Perhaps he was one of the officers attached to Des Bettany’s artillery battery; or maybe Des Bettany, as a 22 year old appreciated Lt Dann’s securing role as ‘camp policeman’, but this is pure speculation.”

The following poem written about Lt Dann by BGC in Changi Gaol POW Camp, Singapore, Sept 1944, further explains Lt Dann’s role as camp policeman…

‘The Exils’. Camp Prisonality – 2

‘D.D.’

 Lord Peter Wimsey, Sexton Blake, Nick Carter, Nelson Lee,

Would all agree I take the cake when ‘frisking’ Party ‘P’.

At dead of night or break of day I’m hot upon the scent

Of ‘two-up’ schools and stolen pay- before the cash is spent.

No subtle subterfuge escapes – no pickings from the go-down-

And bulging shirts or rolled-up capes all end up with a showdown.

These homely features hunt down clues,

and leave no stone unturned,

You’ll find I’m up to every ruse-

my nom de guerre’s well earned.

Source: The Bettany Family wish to thank Sabrina Smith (nee Dann),  Lt Dann’s grand daughter for supplying the above information in January 2013