Richard (Dick) Underwood 1914-1965
Richard (Dick) Underwood
Born: 16 April 1914 Derby, Derbyshire. UK
Died: 1965 Derby, Derbyshire. UK
Dick served with the West Yorkshire Regiment, and was a Quartermaster Sergeant at the time of the fall of Singapore during the second world war. He had married Doris Thomas in Singapore during 1940, and she escaped to the UK on one of the last ships to leave.
Dick was captured by the Japanese in Singapore, and spent some time in Changi Jail before being sent to work on the Burma Railway, where he endured, and saw others endure, great suffering.
By the time he was reunited with Doris after the war, whilst still 6 foot tall, he weighed only seven stone.
He found employment as a Mace-bearer in Colwyn Bay, in Wolverhampton, and then finally Colchester, where he became an active member of the Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOW) Association.
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In the presence of death
we stand awkward, and ill at ease;
For death is a well-known stranger
whom we recognize, but do not wish to know;
But death is not a thing in itself,
but a stage in the journey of life, through which all must pass.
It may come swiftly and catch us unawares,
or slowly with leaden feet;
But death comes to all who live,
and in so doing heightens the understanding
of the one we know.
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